Denzil O. Ibbetson (British, 1775-1857)
Study of Napoleon Bonaparte leaning against a gun on board HMS Northumberland en route to St Helena
bears inscription below by John Des Fontaine 'A correct likeness of General Buonaparte taken on board H:M:S: Northumberland on her Passage to the Isld. St. Helena in 1815/ J:DesF:'
pen, brown ink and watercolour on Whatman paper
21 x 13.8cm
Footnotes:
Provenance:
The Lacquer Chest, London, from whom acquired by the present private owner in 1995.

Napoleon was taken to St Helena on HMS Northumberland in the care of Admiral George Cockburn, arriving there in October 1815. An account of the voyage can be found in the journal of Cockburn's secretary, J.R. Glover which was published in 1893. Also on the ship was Denzil Ibbetson who was Commissary officer on Saint Helena during Napoleon's exile, (one of the few British officers to remain there throughout Napoleon's incarceration) and who produced a number of sketches of the captive both en route to and after his arrival on the island; notably he painted Napoleon's death-bed portrait. In the present drawing Napoleon has a somewhat disconsolate expression as he leans on a gun carriage wearing a petit chapeau, uniform coat, knee breeches and buckled shoes. Another version of the sketch, in mirror image but without the gun or watercolour, was sold, Art+Objects, New Zealand, 29 June 2010, 'Napoleon's Final Days', lot 9. This composition also appears to be the original for George Cruikshank's rare etching which shows Napoleon in two positions, (British Museum print 1978, U.838). Ibbetson seems to have done a number of versions of the sketches that he made of Napoleon and he gave them to friends and colleagues on the island; John Des Fontaine was a landowner on St Helena.
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