Marshal Berthier | Series of 68 letters and orders signed, mostly to the Duc de Bellune, on the war, 1813-14

Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Prince of Wagram & Neuchâtel

Series of 68 letters and orders signed ("Alexandre"; "...Berthier"), mostly addressed to the Duc de Bellune (Marshal Victor) 

comprising 52 letters signed and 8 orders signed by Berthier, and 8 letters signed by other hands on behalf of Berthier, written during the last phase of the war in Saxony and the campaign in France, underlining the straitened circumstances of the Grande Armée as it fell back before the advance of Austria, Russia and Prussia, the orders including for Count Andréossy, Marshal Augereau and General Lauriston, c.108 pages in all, plus blanks, mostly 4to, together with a letter copy dated 15 January 1814 and two other letters, Zittau, Dresden, Mainz, Paris, Strasbourg, Vitry, Meaux, Troyes, and elsewhere, 20 August 1813 to 25 February 1814, where indicated

Louis-Alexandre Berthier (1753–1815) was a French Marshal of the Empire, serving in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Twice French Minister of War, he served in Germany in 1813, and France in 1814, acting as major-général of the Grande Armée. A superb operational organiser, he died - unfortunately for Napoleon - only a fortnight before the battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), in somewhat suspicious circumstances (in a fall from an upstairs window). He was sorely missed at that battle, Napoleon later remarking: "Had Berthier been there, I would not have met this misfortune".

The principal addressee in this correspondence was Claude Victor-Perrin, known as Victor, Duc de Bellune (1764-1841). He was one of the most enterprising military commanders serving under Napoleon, being the chief architect of the Dresden victory in 1813. In February 1814, however, his late arrival at Montereau-sur-Yonne resulted in heated recriminations and his replacement by Gérard. Following Napoleon's abdication, Victor offered his services to Louis XVIII, who made him a Peer of France.

PROVENANCE:

James, 26th Earl of Crawford and Balcarres ("Bibliotheca Lindesiana" stamp); Calvin Bullock; Christie's, London, 8 May 1985, lot 388