Battle Leipzig (3 results)

BM 13489. Landscape. On a piece of wove paper, roughly 215 x 305 mm. Good, on heavily-aged paper and with strip of blue paper mount adhering to the blank reverse. The title 'BERNADOTTE' is at the head, and the publication details and caption at the foot. Shows Bernadotte in martial pose and uniform, riding his white horse over a fearsome serpent. He wears a sash on which are written the words 'Leipsic' and 'Victory'. The caption reads 'Round the head is a wreath of Laurel, which alludes to the brilliant Victories gain'd over the Scourge of the World, the Epaulette head of a lion the Star is formed Of the Trophies taken from the Tyrant, the Thigh is a figure of Liberty holding in Chains the Fiend Slavery, the Sheild the Swedish Cross, with the Sun Shining on the allies who are represented on the Shield, the Horse is in the act of Trampling on a Serpent alluding to the Fallen State of Buonaparte.' A companion piece to the Ackermann/Heath engraving 'BUONAPARTE', BM 12195 (offered separately), and to another portrait, of Alexander I of Russia (not in the British Museum). See Image.

Landscape. On a piece of wove paper. Originally a rectangle roughly 240 x 340 mm, but with an arc cut away beginning in the top left-hand corner and ending at bottom right. This loss has no effect on the text, and only the merest effect on the image, only trimming the outer edge of some very lightly-painted clouds. Apart from this good, on lightly spotted paper, with a thin strip from blue paper mount adhering to the blank reverse. Depicts a ghoulish Bonaparte, with a snake wrapped round his body, a sword of power in his withered hand, and a murderous crown, riding a winged horse of death across the globe. The title 'BUONAPARTE' is at the head, and the publication details and caption at the foot. Caption reads 'The Horse represents Ambition leading on the Fiend, whose body is encompassd. by an Enormous Serpent, the wither'd hand and Arm grasping the broken Sword alludes to The Feeble effort made by Buonaparte to oppose the Conquering arms of the Allies. A Crown Encircles his brows formd of Daggers and Poison Cups alludes to murdering his own Soldiers The Thighs are formd of the Skeletons of the Massacred hosts, the boot a Deamon his guardian Genius'. A companion piece to the Ackermann/Heath engraving 'BERNADOTTE', BM 13489 (offered separately), and to another portrait, of Alexander I of Russia (not in the British Museum).

Single sheet, 210 x 165 mm. Report of despatches received from Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Stewart ".giving the details of a complete and signal victory gained over the whole of the Combined Armies of Bohemia, Silesia, and the North of Germany, over Bonaparte, in the neighbourhood of Leipzig on the 18th and 19th. [of October 1813]." Involving 560,00 soldiers, this was the largest battle ever fought on European soil prior to World War One and led to 133,000 casualties.