James Jenkins
Napoleon Bonaparte Fleeing, 1825
An original colour aquatint
8 x 9 ½ in
20 x 24 cm
20 x 24 cm
MILp267
Bonaparte Fleeing, 1811: Napoleon famously abandoned his army and fled the failed invasion in disguise. In 1814-15, James Jenkins published a series of fifty-two aquatint plates under the title The...
Bonaparte Fleeing, 1811: Napoleon famously abandoned his army and fled the failed invasion in disguise.
In 1814-15, James Jenkins published a series of fifty-two aquatint plates under the title The Martial Achievements of Great Britain and Her Allies, From 1799 to 1815. The collection was issued in thirteen monthly parts, dedicated to the Duke of Wellington..
The work was commissioned to celebrate British military successes in the Napoleonic Wars. Publication began in 1814 and enjoyed a high degree of popularity, which was enhanced by the subsequent defeat and capture of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. The final two plates depict scenes from the Battle of Waterloo whilst a further plate issued in 1815 showed the Duke of Wellington and Blucher, together with other allied leaders and generals, grouped around Napoleon confined in a bottle. As well as campaigns against the French, Jenkins’s Martial Achievements also documented battles against the Spanish and Portuguese with The Storming of Montevideo the only of the series to depict an American scene.
Based predominately on the drawings by William Heath (1794-c1840), later known as the cartoonist Paul Pry, most of the plates in the series were engraved by Thomas Sutherland (1785-1850) using aquatint, a form of etching by tones rather than lines. The original colouring and striking accuracy of the plates, together with Sutherland’s reputation as one of the most important aquatint engravers of the Regency period, mark this as one of the outstanding works of its time.
In 1814-15, James Jenkins published a series of fifty-two aquatint plates under the title The Martial Achievements of Great Britain and Her Allies, From 1799 to 1815. The collection was issued in thirteen monthly parts, dedicated to the Duke of Wellington..
The work was commissioned to celebrate British military successes in the Napoleonic Wars. Publication began in 1814 and enjoyed a high degree of popularity, which was enhanced by the subsequent defeat and capture of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. The final two plates depict scenes from the Battle of Waterloo whilst a further plate issued in 1815 showed the Duke of Wellington and Blucher, together with other allied leaders and generals, grouped around Napoleon confined in a bottle. As well as campaigns against the French, Jenkins’s Martial Achievements also documented battles against the Spanish and Portuguese with The Storming of Montevideo the only of the series to depict an American scene.
Based predominately on the drawings by William Heath (1794-c1840), later known as the cartoonist Paul Pry, most of the plates in the series were engraved by Thomas Sutherland (1785-1850) using aquatint, a form of etching by tones rather than lines. The original colouring and striking accuracy of the plates, together with Sutherland’s reputation as one of the most important aquatint engravers of the Regency period, mark this as one of the outstanding works of its time.
