HORACE VERNET 51789-1863), AFTER "I desire... - Lot 139 - Osenat

HORACE VERNET 51789-1863), AFTER "I desire that my ashes rest on the banks of the Seine in the midst of the French people that I loved so much", the crowned emperor Napoleon I, a laurel branch in his hand, lifting the slab and coming out of his tomb, wrapped in his shroud and nimbed in a supernatural light. Engraving by JEAN-PIERRE-MARIE JAZET (Paris 1788-1871), after HORACE VERNET (Paris, 1789 - 1863), made in 1840, on the occasion of the Return of the Ashes. Title borrowed from one of the most quoted sentences of the will of the Emperor Napoleon I. 82 x 95 cm B.E. Wooden frame and gilded and sculpted stucco around which appear the four Imperial eagles with spread wings. Scrolls, flowers and acanthus leaves spring from the gadroons decorating the spandrels. The engraver Jazet acquired the original painting on May 25, 1840, the day before the Assembly voted to ratify the royal decision to organize this solemn return.