W. Fry, after H. J. Phelps
The gift of a great prince to a little emperor
London: J. Jenkins, 20 September 1817
RCMS 190/36

This engraving shows Napoleon in the grounds of Longwood House on St Helena, his residence from December 1815 onwards. The delicate colouring of the print gives Longwood a charm which it did not possess for its prisoner: he and his companions made many complaints relating to alleged shortcomings in the accommodation, the supposedly unhealthy climate, and the guard that was placed on Napoleon there. The print’s title, extolling the generosity of the British government (in the person of the Prince Regent) and emphasizing the reduced position of the captive, exemplifies a strain of intolerant triumphalism which some have regarded as an unedifying characteristic of the treatment of Napoleon after Waterloo.