Bonaparte Takes Command of the Army of Italy, Antique Madou Lithograph, 1827

An original antique lithograph of Bonaparte arriving at the Army of Italy, from Madou's Vie de Napoléon, published at Brussels in 1827. The title "ARRIVÉE À L'ARMÉE D'ITALIE." is lettered in open capitals above the image. On a high mountain ledge below a towering cliff, Bonaparte, cloaked and wearing a bicorne, stands among his staff and points out over a broad plain at the left. At the right a column of soldiers with muskets and standards crowds forward, some raising their hands, and in the right foreground exhausted men rest on the ground, one with bandaged feet. A broken gun carriage lies on the slope at the lower left.

The script caption reads: "Bonaparte, du haut des Alpes montrant à ses soldats les riches plaines de l'Italie: Camarades, leur dit-il, vous manquez de tout, là se trouve tout ce qui vous manque. Ces riches contrées nous appartiennent; allons en prendre possession." In English: Bonaparte, from the heights of the Alps, showing his soldiers the rich plains of Italy: Comrades, he said to them, you lack everything; there is all that you lack. These rich lands belong to us; let us go and take possession of them. There is no scene number or imprint on this sheet.

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

Bonaparte was appointed to command the Army of Italy in March 1796 and joined its headquarters at Nice at the end of that month. The army was short of pay, food and boots. In April 1796 he led it east along the Ligurian coast and through the mountain passes into Piedmont, opening the campaign with the victory of Montenotte on 12 April.

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