Italy - Battle of Marengo, Alessandria; Auber - Proclamation de la République Romaine, le 27 Pluviose, An VI - 1806

Technical data sheet

Title: Memorable victory won at Marengo, by Bonaparte, personally commanding the French army, on 25 Prairial Year VIII.
Author: Antoine-Charles-Horace, called Carle Vernet (1758–1836).
Engravers: Jean Duplessi-Bertaux (1747–1819), etching; Nicolas Ponce (1746–1819), completion of the plate with burin.
Publisher: Chez Auber, Éditeur et Propriétaire, according to the bibliographic data of the work to which it belongs.
Place: Paris.
Period: 1806; event depicted: Battle of Marengo, 14 June 1800, corresponding to 25 prairial of the Year VIII in the French Republican calendar.
Technique: intaglio copper engraving, produced in aquaforte (etching) and finished with burin, with non-contemporary hand coloring.
Support: paper.
Dimensions: plate impression about 28 × 46 cm; sheet about 39 × 54.5 cm.
Inscriptions: beneath the scene, “Composé et Dessiné par Carle Vernet,” “Gravé à l’eau-forte par Duplessi-Bertaux” and “Terminé par Ponce”; descriptive title at the lower margin.
Composition: single horizontal plate with title and credit indications engraved beneath the image. White margin.

Description

Etching dedicated to Bonaparte’s victory at the Battle of Marengo, fought on 14 June 1800 near Alessandria, during the second Italian campaign.
The scene presents a broad panoramic view of the battlefield, arranged on multiple planes. In the foreground, officers and cavalrymen on horseback animate the elevated ground, while infantry units, artillery batteries, and cavalry formations occupy the plain. The smoke from the shots marks the depth of the composition, guiding the eye toward settlements and the hills on the horizon.
Vernet’s drawing combines a depiction of troop dispositions with a lively rendering of horses, uniforms, and troop movements. The aquaforte defines figures and narrative details, while the burin finishing restores the gradations of the sky and the chiaroscuro transitions. The hand coloring distinguishes uniforms, flags, and landscape elements while preserving the legibility of the engraved line.
The title emphasizes Bonaparte’s personal command and gives the work an explicit celebratory character.

Historical-artistic note

Carle Vernet was among the leading French interpreters of equestrian and military subjects in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In his battle compositions, attention to horses and individual episodes integrates with the overall portrayal of operations.
The collaboration between Duplessi-Bertaux, responsible for the etching, and Nicolas Ponce, who completed the plate, reflects the division of labor typical of printmaking ventures of the period.
The victory at Marengo took on a central role in Bonaparte’s public image, consolidating his military and political prestige during the Consulate. The plate belongs to the editorial production that transformed French campaigns into a figurative narrative intended for historical memory and the celebration of Napoleonic power.

Condition Report

Sheet with margins present on all four sides and well-defined intaglio impression. Slight waviness and signs of paper handling, accompanied by sporadic small stains and pinpoint oxidation, predominantly marginal. On the reverse, slight uneven yellowing and faint outline of the recto image. The overall figurative part well preserved, with readable engraved lines and preserved coloring. No text on the verso.