Napoleon Popular Imagery : Bonaparte And The Arcole Bridge

Heroic trait of General Bonaparte, Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy Orleans, at Letourmy Librarian, [ca. 1796]. Engraved print on wood, colored with stencil 355 X 300 mm (image)
430 X 360 (with the coaster)

"Specialized in publishing books peddling, religious images and papers dominated, the bookseller Orleans Jean- Baptist Letourmy (1747-1800), during the Revolution, renounced the distribution of engravings representing saints or doctors of the Church, and then turned to the publication of images inspired by political or military events, in Most of the time, he copies Parisian soft-cuts, and his huge distribution network, which has about a hundred dealers in some 60 cities, contributes to the dissemination of Bonaparte's deeds. present on the bridge with Bonaparte, does not appear and that the "historical relationship" printed at the bottom of the engraving forget to mention that Bonaparte was immediately after this episode entrained in the flight of his grenades.
The victory was acquired only the next day, but the Arcole bridge became one of the greatest myths of the Napoleonic legend. "
in Heros, The virtual exhibition, BNF

Reference: BnF, Library Arsenal, Print 222 (118)