Le Corps de Napoleon Quitte Ste Helene from Retour en France by Victor Adam 1840

[BONAPARTE, Napoleon] ADAM, Victor. Le Corps de Napoleon Quitte la Terre d'Exil, a Ste Helene le 16 Octobre 1840. Paris, Jeannin, [1840].
 
Large folio lithograph, 510 x 355 mm. Blind-stamped. Dessine d'apres nature; lithographie par V. Adam. Printed by Lemercier, Bernard et Cie. Overall toning with light scattered spotting; small 2 mm marginal tear to lower left corner; some handling wear. About very good.
 
One of the principal 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 ceremonial departure of Napoleon's remains from St Helena on 16 October 1840, marking the beginning of the voyage that returned the emperor's body to France nearly two decades after his death in exile. French officers, sailors, and officials surround the funeral cortege as the coffin is transferred towards the waiting launch and the Belle Poule squadron beyond. This plate is from the original first edition of the complete series of twenty large-format lithographs issued in Paris in 1840.