Description:

NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA SATIRICAL CARTOON
A wonderful piece of printed satire created ca. 1815, with the original housed at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. It shows Napoleon fleeing from exile at St. Helena, with an army of rats in pursuit of him, biting at his heels and coat and brandishing human bones as weapons. Before him, Napoleon's cat carries a ragged French flag in one hand and a bucket in the other that says ‘death to rats' instead of the usual ‘death to kings'. He comments ‘My faith, my dear Master! After the coup you have to pull the scale'. In response, the beleaguered ‘Violet Corporal' replies: ‘Oh my God, I realize I no longer know how to speak French!'. From his pocket, leaves of paper with taxes fly, while two of the marauding rats glue a broadside about conscription (using ‘imperial glue') to a pole. At bottom, the piece is titled ‘The Father the Violette…or the failed conscription…'. The violet became associated with Napoleon during his first abdication of the French throne in 1814; when he returned a year later from exile in Elba, it was used as a show of support. This symbolism continued through his exile in St. Helena, but was also coopted as a caricature used to ridicule Napoleon – as evinced in this lithograph. Measures 14 x 10.5 in. (sight), matted in cream and set into a fine gilt frame.

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January 19, 2024 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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