ANONYMOUS – Il essuie de grands revers. Ou les taches ineffaçables (He wipes big facings. He sustains great reverses). (Paris?), c. 1813.

Plate: 237 x 142mm; Sheet: 300 x 215mm; Hand-coloured etching; with small stitching holes in white margin

Napoleon attempts to erase his crimes from a scroll held on one side by a kneeling devil, and on the other by himself. The scroll lists Napoleon’s crimes that apparently have earned him a place in Hell. Among them are „D’Engheim,“ „Espagne,“ „Moscou,“ and „Leipsic.“ Behind Napoleon and the devil, Jean-Baptiste Kleber rises from behind a pyramidal tomb. Kleber cries for vengeance with a dagger in his chest. The caricature places the responsibility of Klebers death on Napoleon.

Broadley D 158; not in BM Satires

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