Lot Essay
Napoleon III hoped to fulfil his ambitions to win prosperity and prestige for his country by extending French territories overseas, when in 1866 he succeeded in installing his ally Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, the younger brother of the Emperor of Austria, as the Emperor of Mexico. The former republican president, Benito Juárez, was forced to resign. To cement the consequent Franco-Austrian alliance and to assuage Maximilian's misgivings, Napoleon III formally promised him that the French foreign legion would remain in Mexico for the next six years to protect him from the enemy republican forces.
Louis Napoleon's grand venture failed to realise its diplomatic and economic objectives and ended in tragedy. Unfortunately he reneged on his agreement with Maximilian and withdrew the last of the French troops back to France in 1867, thus abandoning Maximilian to his fate. Juárez overwhelmed the Emperor and his remaining men in Querétaro. At 7.00 a.m. on the 19 June, 1867, Maximilian was executed, along with his faithful generals Miramón and Mejía, on the summit of the Cerro de las Campanas.
In deciding to depict the event, Manet seized the opportunity both to vent his outrage toward the French Emperor, and to prove that he could produce a grand history painting, in his own modern idiom, that would be worthy of the Salon. The artist produced three paintings, one oil sketch and one lithograph, all describing the event. The composition is clearly informed by Goya's The Third of May, which Manet had seen in Madrid. Both address the same theme of treachery and execution with its associations of the betrayed Christ.
In January 1869 Manet received a letter from the authorities informing him that his painting would be refused at the Salon, and forbidding the printing and publication of his lithograph. The artist was even forced to serve a legal injunction to Lemercier, the printer, in order to retrieve his stone which Lemercier had refused to return. Émile Zola, a loyal friend and supporter of the artist, defended Manet's depiction of the event in an article he published in La Tribune the following month, in which he wrote; 'On examining a proof of the condemned lithograph, I noticed that the soldiers shooting Maximilian were wearing a uniform almost identical to that of our own troops. You can understand the horror and anger of the gentlemen censors...An artist dared to put before their eyes such a cruel irony: France shooting Maximilian!'
In contrast to the later editions on white Chine, the present impression is on an ivory-toned Chine, characteristic of the finest early impressions. Other rare, early impressions of Manet's lithographs are also known on a grey-toned Chine.
Early impressions are also identifiable by a much greater richness of inking as displayed by this print which has much finer tones and contrasts than the later editions.
The British Museum also has an example of an early proof of this print which bears a similar split to the Chine. It is quite possible that this already existed in the printing studio.
We would like to thank Juliet Wilson-Bareau for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.
Louis Napoleon's grand venture failed to realise its diplomatic and economic objectives and ended in tragedy. Unfortunately he reneged on his agreement with Maximilian and withdrew the last of the French troops back to France in 1867, thus abandoning Maximilian to his fate. Juárez overwhelmed the Emperor and his remaining men in Querétaro. At 7.00 a.m. on the 19 June, 1867, Maximilian was executed, along with his faithful generals Miramón and Mejía, on the summit of the Cerro de las Campanas.
In deciding to depict the event, Manet seized the opportunity both to vent his outrage toward the French Emperor, and to prove that he could produce a grand history painting, in his own modern idiom, that would be worthy of the Salon. The artist produced three paintings, one oil sketch and one lithograph, all describing the event. The composition is clearly informed by Goya's The Third of May, which Manet had seen in Madrid. Both address the same theme of treachery and execution with its associations of the betrayed Christ.
In January 1869 Manet received a letter from the authorities informing him that his painting would be refused at the Salon, and forbidding the printing and publication of his lithograph. The artist was even forced to serve a legal injunction to Lemercier, the printer, in order to retrieve his stone which Lemercier had refused to return. Émile Zola, a loyal friend and supporter of the artist, defended Manet's depiction of the event in an article he published in La Tribune the following month, in which he wrote; 'On examining a proof of the condemned lithograph, I noticed that the soldiers shooting Maximilian were wearing a uniform almost identical to that of our own troops. You can understand the horror and anger of the gentlemen censors...An artist dared to put before their eyes such a cruel irony: France shooting Maximilian!'
In contrast to the later editions on white Chine, the present impression is on an ivory-toned Chine, characteristic of the finest early impressions. Other rare, early impressions of Manet's lithographs are also known on a grey-toned Chine.
Early impressions are also identifiable by a much greater richness of inking as displayed by this print which has much finer tones and contrasts than the later editions.
The British Museum also has an example of an early proof of this print which bears a similar split to the Chine. It is quite possible that this already existed in the printing studio.
We would like to thank Juliet Wilson-Bareau for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.