L'Eclair / Le Serment d'Orsini - after Charles Tichon

Christophe Adrien (Count) Regley de Koenigsegg

The L’Eclair was a Parisian daily newspaper subtitled the Independent Political Journal, which would eventually be taken over by L’Avenir. It featured politicians and political writers such as Edmond Lepelletier, whose work “Le Serment d’Orsini” - a recounting of the customs of the Second French Empire - is featured here. The cover of the original publication was possibly executed by Charles Tichon, a French illustrator about whom little is found and whose name may possibly be a pseudonym.

In this miniature reproduction of Tichon’s cover, Koenigsegg faithfully captures the sumptuous decor and costume of the upper class during the Second French Empire. The 18 year-long Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III had the effect of both stimulating the French economy and spreading imperialism, rendering his tenure an historical juxtaposition. Here, finely dressed ball dancers are seen reflected in a large gilded mirror. In the foreground, a man and woman in the marble foyer inspect a letter menacingly stuck to a banister with a knife.