Napoleon Bonaparte on a White Charger Before the Tricolor Flag, 1815

An original antique engraving, colored by hand, captioned "NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, EMPEROR OF FRANCE." Napoleon rides a white horse galloping toward the left and raises his saber high in his right hand. He wears a black bicorne, a green coat with red collar and gold epaulettes over a white waistcoat, white breeches and black boots, with a red order on his breast. His saddle cloth is crimson edged with heavy gold fringe and embroidery. At the left stand two tents, in the middle distance two horsemen ride ahead of a column of infantry carrying a small tricolor, and at the right a French tricolor flag flies above a stone fortress wall.

No engraver's or artist's name is lettered on this plate. The publication line reads "London Published May 31.1815. by Richd. Evans, Whites Row, Spital Fields." Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in June 1815, a few weeks after this plate was published.

The plate was issued for The History of the Wars occasioned by the French Revolution by William Nicholson, LL.D., printed in London for Thomas Kelly of 17 Paternoster Row. Its title page promises biographical sketches of the public characters of Europe, with an account of the Congress of Vienna, the escape from Elba, Waterloo and the exile to Saint Helena. The plates carry their own engraved publication line naming Richard Evans of Whites Row, Spitalfields, London.

With its galloping white horse and the tricolor, it is a strong single picture for a room hung with Napoleonic subjects.

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