La crise salutaire

Hand-colored etching. 'Napoleon, seated in profile to the left on an ornate chair-commode, clasping his knees, bends forward to vomit (cf. No. 12276, &c.) into a bowl held by a fat doctor, larger in scale than his patient. The doctor, wearing a long gown and a symmetrically parted wig which frames his face, looks fixedly at the spectator over Napoleon's head, with a sly smile; in his left hand he holds on a salver a bottle labelled 'Potion suivant l'ordon'. The chair and the doctor are on a small rectangular dais of four steps. On and beside the dais are rolled documents: two maps, one 'Carte de France', showing the 'Méditerane[e]', the other showing 'Ocean'; two completely rolled are 'Suise' [sic] and 'Moscow'. The back of the chair is decorated with a large 'N' surmounted not by an eagle but by an owl. It is patterned not by bees but by drops of blood (or tears), and is topped by a crown formed of bones and skulls at the apex of which is a larger skull, smoking like a censer. In the background (right) is a corner of the palace of 'Fontainebleau' (the name on a flag); outside it stand two doctors, each with a large syringe. Below the title: 'Buonaparte, Docteur voyez dans quel état je me trouve j'ai pris des bains de sang, j'ai fait des levées en masse et rien ne m'a reussi ..... [the dots in the dialogue are in the original] quel régime suivre? .... toujours le régime actuel n'est-ce pas! Le Docteur. Non . . . non il faut revenir à l'ancien régime. B . . . . De grace donnez moi quelque prise de conscrits vous me sauverez. Le D. Vous vous sauverez sans cela, vous en avez trop pris . . . Evacuez c'est votre dernière ressource! B. Ah Docteur! je n'ai fait qu'évacuer depuis Moscow jusqu'à Paris! le D. tant mieux il faut tout rendre.' -- British Museum Hand-colored etching. 'Napoleon, seated in profile to the left on an ornate chair-commode, clasping his knees, bends forward to vomit (cf. No. 12276, &c.) into a bowl held by a fat doctor, larger in scale than his patient. The doctor, wearing a long gown and a symmetrically parted wig which frames his face, looks fixedly at the spectator over Napoleon's head, with a sly smile; in his left hand he holds on a salver a bottle labelled 'Potion suivant l'ordon'. The chair and the doctor are on a small rectangular dais of four steps. On and beside the dais are rolled documents: two maps, one 'Carte de France', showing the 'Méditerane[e]', the other showing 'Ocean'; two completely rolled are 'Suise' [sic] and 'Moscow'. The back of the chair is decorated with a large 'N' surmounted not by an eagle but by an owl. It is patterned not by bees but by drops of blood (or tears), and is topped by a crown formed of bones and skulls at the apex of which is a larger skull, smoking like a censer. In the background (right) is a corner of the palace of 'Fontainebleau' (the name on a flag); outside it stand two doctors, each with a large syringe. Below the title: 'Buonaparte, Docteur voyez dans quel état je me trouve j'ai pris des bains de sang, j'ai fait des levées en masse et rien ne m'a reussi ..... [the dots in the dialogue are in the original] quel régime suivre? .... toujours le régime actuel n'est-ce pas! Le Docteur. Non . . . non il faut revenir à l'ancien régime. B . . . . De grace donnez moi quelque prise de conscrits vous me sauverez. Le D. Vous vous sauverez sans cela, vous en avez trop pris . . . Evacuez c'est votre dernière ressource! B. Ah Docteur! je n'ai fait qu'évacuer depuis Moscow jusqu'à Paris! le D. tant mieux il faut tout rendre.' -- British Museum Summer 1814