2-969-954 - /Heritage Images

Visit of the Grand Dignitaries of State to the Imperial Infant, [Paris], 1856. '...the Emperor received the felicitations of the Senate, Legislative Corps, Council of State. Magistracy, the Institute, clergy of different persuasions, the Municipal Corps, and deputations from the National Guard and from the Army and Navy, in the Throne room. The magistrates were in full costume, and the civil and military functionaries in full uniform. The Presidents of the various bodies, having congratulated the Emperor on the birth of an Imperial heir...were successively introduced into the apartments of the Pavilion Flore, when they returned to those occupied on the ground floor by the Prince. This is the moment chosen by our Artist to represent the most striking scene of that day. The chief dignitaries of France are grouped round the cradle of the infant whose birth has called forth so much enthusiasm throughout the empire'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.