The Fall Of Napoleon And The First Empire

The Fall of Napoleon and the First Empire – Hand-colored satirical print, August 1815

French satirical print hand-colored, circa 1815, created by Alexis François Boyer de Boyerval, in the aftermath of Napoleon’s fall and the end of the First Empire.

Titled “The Menagerie on Imperial Street,” this composition is a political allegory in which the principal figures of the imperial regime are depicted as animals. A carnival barker, likely a Cossack, presents this strange menagerie to the public.

At the center of the scene, Napoleon I appears as a tiger with a human head, now captive and chained by Russia and England—a symbol of his defeat after Waterloo. Spain is depicted as a cat, while Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, takes the form of a satyr. In the foreground, Cambacérès is caricatured as a pig, accompanied by d’Aigrefeuille. The text printed at the top of the print ironically describes each of these characters and explains their symbolism.

Through its iconography, satirical text, and historical context, this engraving illustrates the propaganda and political reactions that accompanied the Second Restoration in 1815. It offers a rare insight into how the fall of the First Empire was perceived through popular imagery.