Napoleon L Gallery

Study for The Distribution of the Eagle Standards, c1808, (1921). Creator: Jacques-Louis David

Study for The Distribution of the Eagle Standards, c1808, (1921). La distribution des aigles au Champ-de-Mars'. Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821) distributes eagles based on the Roman aquila of the legions of Rome, as the winged figure of Nike, the goddess of victory, floats over the troops. The standards represented the regiments raised by the various departments of France. Preliminary sketch for a painting titled Serment de l'armee fait a l'empereur apres la distribution des aigles au champ de Mars, 5 decembre 1804, (Oath of the army made to the emperor after the distribution of the eagles at the field of Mars, 5 December 1804). Painted in 1810 by Jacques-Louis David, the scene is a military ceremony arranged by Napoleon after his assumption of power as Emperor of the French, in which he sought to revive the military ethos and pageantry of the Roman Empire. From "Napoleon", by Raymond Guyot, [H. Floury, Paris, 1921]

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First telegraph despatch from Lyon, 4 March 1815, (1921). Creator: Unknown

First telegraph despatch from Lyon, 4 March 1815, (1921). Premiere depeche telegraphique de Lyon'. Message sent via French inventor Claude Chappe's (1763-1805) optical telegraph (semaphore) system, devised in 1793. Messages were converted into semaphore using movable arms on the tops of repeater towers which were placed from 12 to 25 km (10 to 20 miles) apart. The message was read through a telescope, then relayed it to the next tower. Messages sent from Paris could reach the outer fringes of the country in a matter of three or four hours. Before, it had taken despatch riders on horseback a similar number of days. Chappe's system was in use until about 1850 when electric telegraph systems replaced it. This message states that the emperor has arrived on the coast of France with 1600 men'. Facsimile document from "Napoleon", by Raymond Guyot, [H. Floury, Paris, 1921]

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Caricature of Napoleon, c1814, (1921). Creator: Unknown

Caricature of Napoleon, c1814, (1921). This hieroglyphic portrait of the Destroyer is faithfully copied from a German Print, with the Parody of his assumed Titles. The hat of the destroyer represents a discomfited French Eagle, maimed and crouching, after his conflict with the eagles of the North. His Visage is composed of the carcasses of the victims of his folly and ambition, who perished on the Plains of Russia and Saxony. His Throat is encircled with the Red Sea, in allusion to his drowned hosts. His epaulette is a hand, leading the Rhenish confederation, under the flimsy symbol of the Cobweb. The spider is an emblem of the vigilance of the Allies, who have inflicted on that hand a deadly sting! After Johann Michael Voltz. From "Napoleon", by Raymond Guyot, [H. Floury, Paris, 1921]

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