PRINCE IMPÉRIAL, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (1856-1879)

PRINCE IMPÉRIAL, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (1856-1879)

Portrait of the Imperial Prince – Period print, slightly later edition
[London, c. 1873–1875; the print presented dates after 1879]
Cabinet format, print size: 14.8 × 10.2 cm
Mounted on thick card: 16.3 × 10.7 cm
Photographer’s credit to the cabinet in the lower margin of the recto and on the verso
Minor damage to the lower right corner (no tear to the print), skilfully restored

Superb portrait of the Imperial Prince in the uniform of a cadet at the Woolwich Academy

From the Christopher Forbes Collection

Two years after his arrival in the United Kingdom, following the fall of the Second Empire, the Prince was admitted on 17 November 1872 to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, after taking the entrance exam (27th out of 30) alongside his friend Louis Conneau.
The young prince is here depicted in the uniform of a cadet at Woolwich. With a martial bearing, one can imagine the immense pride he must have felt, artillery being the branch of service in which his great-uncle, Emperor Napoleon, began his career.

Print with perfect contrasts.