1151 - “Der Rheinische Courier”, caricature of Napoleon's flight after the Battle of Leipzig, 1814

“Der Rheinische Courier”, caricature of Napoleon's flight after the Battle of Leipzig, 1814 Hand-coloured etching/paper, circa 1814, probably by Johann Michael Voltz, inscribed below the image “Der Rheinische Courier verliehrt auf der Heimreise von der Leipziger Messe alles”, Napoleon I in uniform with bicorne running to the left, holding a staff inscribed “Carolus Magnus”, on his back a fur knapsack from which inscribed maps are flying, among them “Holland”, “Italien”, “Schweiz”, “Rhein Bund” and “Polen”, together with sheets with soldiers inscribed “Junge Garde” and “Alte Garde”, in the background on the left, across the Rhine, the townscape inscribed “Maynz”, the lost maps stand for the lost countries, the satirical print refers to the Wars of Liberation and the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, condition commensurate with age, browned, some creasing, marks at the lower edge, image 9x8.5 cm (HxW), passe-partout, behind glass, framed, overall dimensions 19.5x14 cm (HxW) The caricature is attributed to the Augsburg draughtsman and etcher Johann Michael Voltz (1784 to 1858); impressions are held by the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin and the Historisches Museum der Pfalz in Speyer. The messenger's staff bearing the name of Charlemagne alludes to the courier's staff in the Napoleonic imperial coat of arms, the emperor's sceptre has become a walking stick, and the flying sheets show France's territorial losses. Title and pictorial idea draw on the popular almanacs of the time, whose title pages showed messengers in uniform; Napoleon thus becomes the bearer of the news of his own defeat. After the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in October 1813 and the engagement at Hanau the French withdrew across the Rhine; they held Mainz, then capital of the Donnersberg department, until May 1814, and Napoleon himself left the city on 7 November 1813.