Napoleon's Eagle

Description

Napoleon Bonaparte’s profile appears in silhouette before the setting sun, mourned by an eagle with a downcast head. The print’s title references the emperor’s penchant for using sculpted gilt eagles on top of his battle standards, which were variations on similar eagles sported by Roman legions. The British animal painter Edwin Landseer, who produced the design for this memorial roundel, specialized in poignant scenes of pets lamenting their owner’s demise. Curiously, here he turned the emperor’s standard into an actual bird.

Napoleon's Eagle

Henry Thomas Ryall

1842

Accession Number

82271

Medium

Stipple and engraving on ivory wove paper

Dimensions

Plate: Diam.: 18 cm (7 1/8 in.); Sheet: 36.4 × 31.2 cm (14 3/8 × 12 5/16 in.)

Classification

engraving

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Col. Robert R. McCormick