Entree du Convoi de Napoleon a Paris from Retour en France by Victor Adam 1840

[BONAPARTE, Napoleon] ADAM, Victor. Entree du Convoi de Napoleon a Paris, sous l'Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile le 15 Decembre 1840. Paris, Jeannin, [1840].
 
Large folio lithograph, 510 x 355 mm. Blind-stamped. Dessine d'apres nature et lithographie par Victor Adam et Bichebois. Printed by Lemercier, Bernard et Cie. Scattered spotting, but the image itself generally clean and strong; a good example overall.
 
A striking panoramic view of the funeral cortege of Napoleon entering Paris beneath the Arc de Triomphe during the Retour des Cendres ceremonies of December 1840. Victor Adam and Bichebois depict the immense crowds assembled around the monument as the imperial procession advances beneath banners and military escort, the scene conceived on an almost theatrical scale. The caption beneath the image declares that beneath this "trophee de sa gloire imperissable" the funeral car seemed transformed into a triumphal chariot. From the original first edition of the complete series of twenty large-format lithographs documenting the return and state funeral of Napoleon in 1840.