L'lle St. Helene Lieu d' Exil du Gal. Buonapart Dt. Napoleon 1815

NAPOLEON. L'Ile St. Helene Lieu d'Exil du Gal. Buonaparte Dt. Napoleon. Paris: Madame Ve. Chereau, rue St. Jacques, No. 10, [1815].

Hand-coloured etching. Single sheet, 300 x 450 mm. Old central vertical fold, small loss to the lower right corner and a tiny tear at the centre of the upper edge. Some light toning and scattered spotting. The corner loss is confined to the blank margin, leaving the image and lettering intact. An attractive example with strong colouring. Very good. 

An imagining of Napoleon's impending captivity on St Helena, showing the former emperor standing beside a British officer on the heights above the coastal settlement, with numerous sailing vessels and rowing boats in the roadstead below. The dramatically compressed landscape and exaggerated scale of the figures place Napoleon prominently above the island.

Published as a vue d'optique, the print is recorded by the Bibliotheque nationale de France as deposited on 3 October 1815, before Napoleon reached the island later that month. It therefore presents an imagined scene of his exile rather than an eyewitness view. The caption describes the captive as "General Buonaparte, called Napoleon", withholding his imperial title. Reference: De Vinck 9758.