Prints and Principles

Most of the recent posts give details about individual prints and earlier posts discuss some of the subtle principles guiding artists in making images meaningful and memorable. For prints that are unsold, click "Items still available for sale" below. All other prints are no longer available. My contact email is oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com and my Instagram username is @printsandprinciples. I have created a separate blog to show my own work: https://printsandprinciplesjamesbrown.blogspot.com

Sunday, 17 August 2025

Lazarus Gottlieb Sichling, “Death Mask of Napoleon”, c.1840, after Luigi Calamatta and the Antommarchi cast

Lazarus Gottlieb Sichling (1812–1863)

“Death Mask of Napoleon”—Napoleon I, Emperor of France (aka Napoleon Bonaparte; Napoleon) (1769–1821)—c.1840, engraving after Luigi Calamatta’s [1801–1869] engraving executed in 1834 of the Antommarchi cast—the title for the cast made by Napoleon’s physician, François Carlo Antommarchi (1780–1838) and/or Francis Burton.

Engraving on buff wove paper with a small margin around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 21 x 16.1cm; (image borderline) 16.8 x 13.8cm.

The British Museum offers the following description of Luigi Calamatta’s engraving which Lazarus Gottlieb Sichling’s engraving copies: “Death mask of Napoleon, after the so-called Antommarchi cast; facing front, crowned with laurel wreath, with insignia of the Legion of Honour around the neck, and sword placed in front of it; in decorative frame” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1848-1125-347).

Note that the Harvard Art Museums offer reproductions of both Calamatta and Sichling’s engravings for comparison: https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/247612.

Lettered in plate: (within the image borderline at lower centre) “NAPOLEON”; (below the image borderline at lower right) “Sichling sculps”.

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression. The sheet has a small margin around the image borderline and laid upon a sheet of millennium quality washi paper providing wide margins. Beyond minor age-toning, the sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or stains.

I am selling this finely executed engraving expressing an aura of gravitas appropriate to the subject of a death mask, for the total cost of AU$264 (approximately US$172.04, EUR 147.06 or GBP 126.94), including express mail shipping worldwide. Import duties, if any, are the responsibility of the buyer.

If you are interested in purchasing this dark and glowing engraving, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.