Pencil and watercolour drawing of the Emperor... Lot 48

Pencil and watercolour drawing of the Emperor Napoleon I on his deathbed at St. Helena, marked below in brown ink: "Copy after the drawing of M. Marryal, capne de Vaisseau of the English Navy. This drawing was made 14 hours after the death, at the request of Sir Hudson-Lowe and with the permission of Count Montholon, and Mal Bertrand"; paper pasted on cardboard; 30.5 x 46 cm. (Some wear, small lacks and some foxing). First half of the 19th century. Good condition. Frédérick MARRYAT or MARRYAL, born 10 July 1792 in Westminster, London, † 9 August 1848 in Langham, Norfolk; English sea captain and novelist; contemporary and writer's acquaintance of Charles DICKENS, he is considered today to be one of the pioneers of the maritime novel; he is particularly well known nowadays for his semi-autobiographical novel Mr. He is particularly known today for his semi-autobiographical novel M. Le Midshipman Aisé (1836) and for his children's novel Les enfants de la Forêt-Neuve (1847); in 1820 he took command of the sloop Beaver, and temporarily of the Rosario, to send to England the dispatch announcing the death of Napoleon I at St. Helena; He also took the opportunity to make a sketch of Napoleon's body on his deathbed which was later published as a lithograph (MARRYAT's drawing skills are modest, but his sketches of shipboard life, on and below deck, have considerable charm beyond their crudeness)