3-021-697 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Villa San Martino, Napoleon's house in the Isle of Elba, 1868. Engraving of a sketch by Mr. P. W. G. Canning, of H.M.S. Caledonia. 'The officers and men of our [ie British] Mediterranean squadron, when cruising last summer, had an opportunity of visiting Elba, which had not been visited by an English man-of-war for some years before, and of seeing Napoleon's residence whilst he was confined to that island...Villa San Martino, the house where the Emperor lived after his first abdication - from May, 1814, to February, 1815...is about three miles from the town of Porto Ferrajo, and is situated at the head of a well-wooded and fertile valley, to which there is a good road leading from the town, with vineyards and fruit gardens on each side. On entering the avenue the visitor at once obtains a view of Napoleon's abode and of the museum erected in 1852 by Prince Demidoff, a Russian nobleman, who is the present owner of the estate. In...the lower building, with the columns at the end of the avenue, is the museum; the Villa San Martino stands on a terrace above; the villa of Prince Demidoff is to the left. The museum is filled with paintings and sculptures, and relics appertaining to Napoleon's career'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.