The King of Rome

Roger Barthélemy|Pierre Paul Prud'hon

ca.1811 · Etching and stipple engraving on chine collé · Drawings and Prints

This print is based on a drawing by Pierre Paul Prud’hon (1758-1823) today in the Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris (inv. PPD1293). It commemorates the birth of Napoleon I (1811-1832), the son and heir apparent of Napoleon I and the Empress Marie Louise. The print was made by Barthélemy Roger, a printmaker who had studied with Prud’hon and the engraver Jacques Louis Copia. The iconography, from the relief of Romulus and Remus to the profile medallion format, refers to ancient Rome and is meant to reinforce the idea that the role of Emperor would descend from Napoleon to his son. Instead, Napoleon would abdicate when his son was only three and Napoleon II died in Vienna at age 21.

Artist

Roger Barthélemy|Pierre Paul Prud'hon

Date

ca.1811

Medium

Etching and stipple engraving on chine collé

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of James David Draper and the Robert Isaacson Collection, 2020