[Sometimes attributed to Pierre Auguste Marie Miger]
Tableaux historiques des campagnes d’Italie, depuis l’an IV jusqu’à la bataille de Marengo: toutes les vues ont été prises sur les lieux mêmes, et les estampes sont gravées d’après les dessins originaux de Carle Vernet. Précis historique de la campagne d’Allemagne
Paris: Auber, 1806
CCF.48.18, plate opposite p. 36 of the ‘Précis historique’

A view of the Battle of Austerlitz, fought on 2 December 1805, where Napoleon overwhelmingly defeated a combined force of Austrians and Russians. In this engraving by Duplessis Bertaux after a drawing by Carle Vernet, the formation of large bodies of troops in line is clearly depicted.

The plate is reproduced from a remarkable example of triumphalist printing which appeared when Napoleon was at the height of his powers. The Tableaux historiques celebrated his campaigns in Italy, although this late issue of the work also contains a suffixed ‘Précis’ covering the more recent campaign in Germany which culminated at Austerlitz. Both the size of the volume—the pages are almost two feet tall—and the sumptuous scale and detail of the engravings expressed an ambition to serve as an adequate testimony to those whose achievements it chronicled. The immortality of these heroes, the book claimed, had begun during their own lifetimes, and in the Introduction the publishers attested that nothing had been overlooked ‘in order that the execution of the work should be worthy’ of the ‘invincible general’, Napoleon, and the soldiers whom he guided to victory.

For further images from the Tableaux historiques click on ‘Open Digital Library’.