Vernet, Horace "Adieux de Fontainebleau. (20 April 1814)"

After Horace Vernet. "Adieux de Fontainebleau. (20 April 1814)."

Paris: Goupil & Vibert, ca. 1860. 19 1/4 x 25 1/2. Aquatint by Jean-Pierre Marie Jazet. Very good condition.

After his failed invasion of Russia and defeat by the Allies, Napoleon abdicated and bid farewell to the remnants of his faithful officers in the courtyard at Fontainebleau before being sent into exile on the island of Elba. The emotional speech he gave to his Old Guard:

Soldiers of my Old Guard: I bid you farewell. For twenty years I have constantly accompanied you on the road to honor and glory. In these latter times, as in the days of our prosperity, you have invariably been models of courage and fidelity. With men such as you our cause could not be lost; but the war would have been interminable; it would have been civil war, and that would have entailed deeper misfortunes on France. I have sacrificed all of my interests to those of the country. I go, but you, my friends, will continue to serve France. Her happiness was my only thought. It will still be the object of my wishes. Do not regret my fate; if I have consented to survive, it is to serve your glory. I intend to write the history of the great achievements we have performed together. Adieu, my friends. Would I could press you all to my heart.