The First Night of My Wedding, or Little Boney No Match For an Arch Dutchess

Thomas Tegg|Thomas Rowlandson|Marie Louise of Austria|Napoléon Bonaparte

April 25, 1810 · Hand-colored etching · Drawings and Prints

The Duchess Marie Louise of Parma, Napoleon's new second wife, sits in her nightgown on a canopied bed. One leg rests on a crown on the floor labeled "Portable Water Closet." Looking at the viewer she says, "Still says sly Old Hodge says he / Great talkers do the least d'ye see / Well Well there's one hope left-- / I shall quickly carry him to his Journey's end." Behind her, Napoleon wearing a night cap and looking exhausted, supports his head with one hand and holds a bottle labeled "Dropsy." He says "Mort de Ma Vie I must I must brush off to Campiegne, and order seperate [sic] Beds."

Artist

Thomas Tegg|Thomas Rowlandson|Marie Louise of Austria|Napoléon Bonaparte

Date

April 25, 1810

Medium

Hand-colored etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959