Treaty of Peace with the United States, 1800, Antique Madou Lithograph, 1827

About this sheet

An original antique lithograph from Madou's Vie de Napoléon, published at Brussels in 1827, lettered "TRAITÉ AVEC LES ETATS-UNIS" in open capitals above the image. Under a tented ceiling hung with fringed drapery, the First Consul stands at the center and clasps the hand of a gentleman in civilian dress beside a long table covered with papers. Men in court dress and uniform gather round the table at the right and wait at the left. A shield with a pair of scales and a trophy of arms and flags hang on the wall, and a drawn curtain at the left opens onto a balustrade and trees.

The caption below the image reads: "Le 30 Septembre 1800 un traité de paix et d'amitié conclu entre la France et les Etats-Unis d'Amérique consacra les principes les plus libéraux sur les droits maritimes des nations." In English: On 30 September 1800 a treaty of peace and friendship concluded between France and the United States of America established the most liberal principles on the maritime rights of nations.

Vie de Napoléon was published at Brussels in 1827 by the Lithographie royale de Jobard, the press of Marcellin Jobard. Its title page describes a text written by a society of men of letters from new documents dictated and corrected by Napoleon at Saint Helena, with plates lithographed by the Belgian artist Jean-Baptiste Madou (1796 to 1877) after the first painters of the French school. This plate comes from the first volume, which runs from Brienne to the camp of Boulogne.

The agreement, known as the Convention of 1800 or the Treaty of Mortefontaine, ended the undeclared naval conflict between the two republics known as the Quasi War. It was negotiated in Paris by the American commissioners Oliver Ellsworth, William Richardson Davie and William Vans Murray and, for France, by Joseph Bonaparte, Fleurieu and Roederer, and celebrated at Joseph Bonaparte's estate at Mortefontaine on 3 October.

Condition: Light wear to the bottom right corner; minor nicks to the right edge. Age toning, darker at the edges; handling soiling along the edges. Foxing in the margins, heaviest along the top edge and toward the top right corner, and small brown marks in the left and lower margins. Printed image clean.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.