[EASTLAKE, Charles Lock.]

Napoleon Bonaparte as he presented himself at the gangway of his Majesty's ship Bellerophon, in Plymouth Sound, in the month of August 1815. Engraved by Charles Turner.

London, published by Charles Lock Eastlake, June 1816. 765 x 530 mm, mezzotint. ‘Brilliant proof, before any inscription’ (Whitman). Eastlake, the only British artist to paint Napoleon from life, studied the French emperor during his captivity on the Bellerophon. ‘Every evening, with a friend named Shepheard, he went out in a small boat, as did thousands of others, to watch Bonaparte make his regular appearance at the starboard gangway: “I hope, but for the object I have had in view (that of getting a likeness of him), I should not have paid him that respect which more than one visit implies; and notwithstanding his dignified appearance, I can see him yet reeking with the English blood that has been lately shed”. Seeing Eastlake at work, Bonaparte held his pose at the gangway and sent ashore a uniform and decorations for the young artist’s use. The first finished portrait, a small full-length, made a “rumpus” in Plymouth and, on being taken aboard the Eurotas, received the approbation of one of the subject’s aides: “Le portrait de l’empereur Napoléon exécuté par Mr Eastlake est le plus rassemblant que j’ai vu, et capable de donner une idée parfaite des habitudes du corps de S.M.” ’ (Robertson, Sir Charles Eastlake and the Victorian art world p. 6).It is from this version of Napoleon Bonaparte on board the Bellerophon in Plymouth Sound that Charles Turner engraved this mezzotint (see Robertson p. 250), which was published on 26 June 1816 by Eastlake with a dedication to the Prince Regent. Our copy is what Whitman refers to as a ‘masked’ proof, ‘that is to say, after the metal plate had been inked, a strip of paper was laid over the inscription space, previous to the impression being printed, so as to make the impression appear as a proof before lettering. These masked impressions are usually so choice that there is little doubt they were, in most cases, the first taken after the subject was finished, and before the inscription place was cleared, probably to be submitted for approval to the painter, or to the owner of the plate’ (Whitman pp. 27–28).Whitman, Charles Turner 397.

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