GIRODET DE ROUSSY-TRIOSON ANNE-LOUIS: (1767-1824) A wonderful original caricature of Napoleon by Girodet

GIRODET DE ROUSSY-TRIOSON ANNE-LOUIS: (1767-1824) A wonderful original caricature of Napoleon by Girodet

GIRODET DE ROUSSY-TRIOSON ANNE-LOUIS: (1767-1824) French painter who participated in the early Romantic movement and is remembered for his precise and clear style and for his paintings of members of the Napoleonic family. A fine original pencil drawing executed and signed by Girodet, one page, 8vo (approximately 15.5 x 21.5 cm), n.p., n.d. (1815). The artist has drawn an accomplished and amusing caricature of Napoleon in a full-length pose, wearing military regalia including his familiar bicorne, descending the steps of a dais and with his throne visible in the background. The Emperor has his head turned in profile towards a Phrygian cap which rests atop a long pole in Napoleon´s grip, and in his other hand, cunningly concealed behind his back, the Emperor holds the Imperial crown. Signed (´Girodet´) in pencil to the lower right at the base of the drawing. To the verso appears a second drawing by Girodet, also executed in pencil, the preparatory drawing, already reasonably well-developed, also depicting Napoleon, although this time in a head and shoulders study, his face turned to the left, and with more realistic features with no intention of caricature, his features outlined, his gaze weary, and his head bare. Numbered 144 in ink to the upper left corner of the verso. With the small circular stamp of the Coutan-Hauguet-Schubert-Milliet Collection (Lugt 464) to the lower left corner of the recto. Some light foxing, largely evident to the edges of the paper, and with some minor traces of former mounting (including a small strip of tape) to the edges and corners of the verso. G

Girodet was one of Napoleon´s official painters, before bcoming one of his fiercest caricaturists. Thus, the famous full-length painting of Napoleon I in his coronation robes, created by Girodet in around 1812, contrasts with his drawn caricatures, which were the delight of English newspapers. The present drawing is evidently in the latter vein, demonstrating Napoleon´s duplicity in swapping the Imperial crown for the Revolutionary bonnet for propaganda purposes. The present drawing was engraved in etching by Pierre-Marc Bassompierre Gaston in August 1815 with the caption Et l´on revient toujours/A ses premiers amours (Translation: ´And you always come back to your first love´).

Girodet´s drawing was originally acquired by the French fabric merchant and art collector Louis Joseph Auguste Coutan (1779-1830), and thence by inheritance to his wife, Lucienne Hauguet (1788-1838), and thence her brother, Ferdinand Hauguet (d. 1860), and thence by descent to his son Maurice-Jacques-Albert Hauguet (1819-1883) then his wife, née M.T. Schubert and his sister-in-law, Mme G. Milliet.

It is understood that the present drawing will be included in the artist's catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Madame Sidonie Lemeux-Fraitot.