Treaty of Leoben, Belgium Ceded to France, Antique Madou Lithograph, 1827

An original antique lithograph from Jean-Baptiste Madou's Vie de Napoléon, published at Brussels in 1827, lettered "TRAITÉ DE LÉOBEN" in open capitals above the image. In a hall hung with drapery and opening through arches onto a palace facade and trees at the right, a large map is spread over a draped table. Bonaparte stands left of center with his arm raised, French officers gathered behind him at the left, while seated secretaries write at the table and a man leans over the map. Two men in court dress with sashes and orders stand at the right, with others behind them.

The caption below the image, in lithographic script, reads: "Bonaparte conclut avec l'empereur d'Allemagne un traité par lequel la belg.que est cédée à la france" In English: Bonaparte concludes with the Emperor of Germany a treaty by which Belgium is ceded to France. Belgique is abbreviated on the sheet.

The plate comes from the first volume of Vie de Napoléon, published at Brussels in 1827 by the Lithographie royale de Jobard, the press of Marcellin Jobard. Its title page describes a text written by a society of men of letters from the new documents dictated and corrected at Saint Helena by Napoleon himself, illustrated with lithographed plates by Jean-Baptiste Madou (1796 to 1877) after painters of the French school. Madou, a Belgian, later became known as a painter of genre scenes.

The preliminaries of peace were signed near Leoben in Styria on 18 April 1797, after Bonaparte's advance through the Alps had brought the French army within reach of Vienna. Under their terms the Emperor renounced the Austrian Netherlands, the present Belgium, in favor of France, and the settlement was confirmed by the treaty of Campo Formio in October 1797. For a book printed in Brussels the caption touched directly on local history.

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