ANONYMOUS (after) – Il est composé de corps morts pour son ambition,… (France), n.d. (c.1815)

Plate: 165 x 111mm; Sheet: 198 x 142mm; hand-coloured etching.

Very rare French version. — with some browning and staining, otherwise in good condition.
Most famous satirical portrait of Napoleon. Bonaparte’s hat depicts the Prussian eagle, his face is formed from dead bodies, his collar is a blood stream, his uniform is a map with the names of lost battles, the order of the Legion of Honour is a spider web and the epaulette is God’s hand tearing apart the emperor’s uniform. Originally published in December 1813 in Germany under the title: „Triumph des Jahres 1813“, this caricature became the most successful and most often copied caricature of the French Emperor.

cf. Broadley E 121ff; BM Satires 12177, 12202, 122204; Arenenberg 340, 389, 390, 391 (all other versions)

EUR 300,-