Le Char Funebre de Napoleon - from Retour en France by Victor Adam 1840

[BONAPARTE, Napoleon] ADAM, Victor; ARNOUT, Jules. Le Char Funebre de Napoleon. Paris, Jeannin, [1840].
 
Large folio lithograph, 510 x 355 mm. Blind-stamped. Dessine d'apres nature et lithographie par Arnout; les figures par Victor Adam. Printed by Lemercier, Bernard et Cie. Light scattered foxing, chiefly marginal; sheet slightly trimmed; some handling wear. About very good.
 
One of the more visually striking plates from Adam's suite documenting the exhumation, return, and state funeral of Napoleon in 1840. The plate forms part of Victor Adam's Retour en France des Depouilles Mortelles de Napoleon, a suite of twenty lithographs documenting the Retour des Cendres. The scene depicts the elaborate funeral carriage constructed for Napoleon's remains during the state ceremonies surrounding the return of his body from St Helena to France. The monumental catafalque-like design, draped in imperial emblems and drawn by richly caparisoned horses, reflects the theatrical and political character of the July Monarchy's rehabilitation of the Napoleonic legend under Louis-Philippe. This plate is from the original first edition of the complete series of twenty large-format lithographs issued in Paris in 1840.