Offered by GSLR Antiques
Large Consulat Empire period engraving presenting a review of General Bonaparte 1st Consul in Year IX (1800), also known as Revue du Décadi or Revue du Quintidi, based on the work of Jean Baptiste Isabey and Carle Vernet, engraved by Louis Pauquet and finished by Mécou.
This scene is of course very well known and appreciated by Empire collectors is a very large format, presented in a very rich Empire frame from the 1820-1830 period gilded with gold leaf. Beautiful print - stamped lower left below the Isabey & Vernet signature, with very fine engraving, numerous details.
It is of great historical and artistic interest: all the great officers of the Consulate, future Marshals of the Empire, are represented and clearly recognizable, with their natural features. The Musée Carnavalet has a captioned facsimile in its collections, which allows us to name each of the great officers prancing about in their brightly-colored uniforms. The First Consul is in the center, depicted with the lean features of his youth. An amusing detail: General Bonaparte's white horse is the only living thing staring back at the painter. The scene takes place in the courtyard of the Tuileries (the vanished palace visible on the left), on the site of the Carroussel arch, which had not yet been built at the time, nor the future rue de Rivoli, before the Napoleonic wing was built or the fine neoclassical buildings with arcades that we know today. The only clearly recognizable building is the Palais Royal, which predates the scene.
A fine large-format piece, a good addition to an Empire collection. Beautiful wood frame and stucco gilded with gold leaf, cleaned by our gilder and without any missing parts. Engraving cleaned in an acid bath to restore its original freshness, old traces of restoration. Presented in a royal blue passe-partout that matches the gilded frame.
Width: 113.5cm
Height : 97cm