RARE ET IMPORTANTE GRAVURE DE LA BATAILLE D’EYLAU Pietro ANDERLONI (1785-1849), d’après Antonio Raffaele CALLIANO (1785-c. 1824).

Napoleone il Grande vistendo il campo dopo la battaglia d'Eylau. Etching, 1810. H. 68 x W. 106 cm (as seen). In a large giltwood frame (chips). H. 86 x W. 126 cm. Historical Extremely rare print depicting a famous episode in Napoleon's epic, the Emperor on the battlefield of Eylau. This half-hearted victory, in which many soldiers lost their lives, was the subject of a propaganda campaign designed to control public perception. A precise iconographic program was drawn up by Vivant-Denon to show Napoleon directing the care and rescue of the wounded in the aftermath of the battle. A sketching competition was held at the Louvre in 1807, and was won by Baron Gros, who produced his famous painting 'Napoléon visite le champ de bataille d'Eylau, 9 février 1807' (ill. 1). This subject, which inspired a number of painters, was also taken up in Italy, notably by Antonio Raffaele Calliano, a veteran of Napoleonic subjects, who in 1804 submitted a 'Battle of Marengo' that won him a scholarship to complete his training in Rome at the Académie Saint-Luc. His 'Napoleon Visiting the Battlefield of Eylau' was certainly completed around 1808-1809, and is a work marked by neoclassicism, in which military uniforms coexist with the heroic nudity of soldiers on the ground. The work was engraved by Pietro Anderloni in 1810. This etching, most likely produced for the high dignitaries of the Milan royal court, was printed in a very limited number of proofs. To our knowledge, only two other copies are known to exist (see below). Related works - Antoine-Jean Gros, Napoleon visiting the battlefield of Eylau, February 9, 1807, 1808, Musée du Louvre, inv. 5067 (ill. 1). - Pietro Andeloni (engraver), after Antonio Raffaele Calliano, Napoleone il Grande vistendo il campo dopo la bataglia d'Eylau, 1810, British Museum, inv. 1862,0614.1624. - Pietro Andeloni (engraver), after Antonio Raffaele Calliano, Napoleone il Grande vistendo il campo dopo la bataglia d'Eylau, Osenat sale November 20, 2016, lot 409 (sold for €5,000). Literature A. Roccavilla, L'arte nel Biellese, Rinaldo Allara, Biella, 1905, p. 73.