Bonaparte in the Council of Five Hundred, Antique Madou Lithograph, 1827

An original antique lithograph from Jean-Baptiste Madou's Vie de Napoléon, printed at Brussels in 1827. The sheet is lettered "18 BRUMAIRE." in open capitals above the image. The hall, with draped windows and Corinthian columns, is in uproar. Bonaparte, in uniform with a sash, stands at the center among grenadiers with fixed bayonets while a robed deputy reaches for him. Deputies in long robes stretch out their arms, a man at the left stands on a bench with his arm raised, and at the right a deputy leans over the tribune rail.

The caption below the image reads: "Le 18 Brumaire. Napoléon entre seul dans la salle du conseil des cinq cents; aussitôt les cris: à bas le dictateur! se font entendre; les poignards sont levés sur lui; les grenadiers enveloppent et enlèvent leur général." In English: "18 Brumaire. Napoleon enters the hall of the Council of Five Hundred alone; at once the cries of 'down with the dictator!' are heard; daggers are raised against him; the grenadiers surround their general and carry him off."

Vie de Napoléon was published at Brussels in 1827 by the Lithographie royale de Jobard, éditeur propriétaire. Its title page describes a text written by a society of men of letters from new documents dictated and corrected by Napoleon himself on Saint Helena, with plates lithographed by Jean-Baptiste Madou (1796 to 1877) after the first painters of the French school. This plate belongs to the first volume.

Though lettered with the date that named the coup, this scene took place the next day, 19 Brumaire, Year VIII (10 November 1799), at Saint Cloud, where the councils had been moved. The deputies met Bonaparte with shouts of outlaw and grenadiers brought him out. His brother Lucien, president of the council, rallied the troops, the hall was cleared, and that night a rump of deputies voted in the Consulate.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.