The King of Rome
After Pierre Paul Prud'hon French
Engraver Roger Barthélemy French
Not on view
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.
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