Napoleon Bonaparte visited the Netherlands more than 200 years ago and spent the night in Rotterdam at the Schielandshuis palace. Known as ruler of the French Empire, but also ridiculed for his losses and his not very realistic desire to conquer Britain. British artists such as Gillray, Rowlandson and Cruikshank mocked him for this. The British, safe at their side of the Channel, made a fool of Boney in their caricatures, knowing that the Royal Navy ruled the waves.