This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/16/2012
Napoleon Bonaparte autograph note signed as general-in-chief of the French Army in Italy during the First Italian Campaign in the French Revolutionary Wars. Bonaparte here orders the arrest of a Genoa governor. Written in French, it translates: ''Send to General to carry out right away the mission suggested by citizen [Minister] Faipoult. / The general in chief / Bonaparte''. He writes the order upon a letter sent to him by Guillaume Charles Faipoult de Maisoncelle, French minister to Genoa. Also written in French, it's datelined Genoa, 17th of Vendemiaire [October] in the 5th year of the French Republic [1796]. The minister reports: ''...Another new arrest of the 46 recruits who were sent here for Naples and who stopped in Novi, where Governor Oliveri gave them a certificate and declared them for the King of Naples...'' Napoleon's signed note appears on the upper margin of the first page of the minister's 2pp. letter on 2 sheets. Measures 8.5'' x 12''. Near fine. Matted in a gilt wooden frame to an overall size of 46.25'' x 28.75''. Document is flanked by a printed translation and a print of Jacques-Louis David's 1812 portrait called ''The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries.'' Sliver of chipping to frame left and bottom edges, else near fine.