The Last Moment of the Emperor Maximilian
- Description
- This relief print from The Magazine of Art dramatically illustrates the final moments before the execution of the Mexican Emperor Maximilian I in 1867. An Austrian noble by birth, Maximilian was installed by Napoleon III of France. French forces had invaded Mexico in 1862, after President Benito Juárez suspended payments on its foreign debt. Despite a major victory by Mexican forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, the French seized control of large sections of Mexico, including the capital. Maximilian was initially supported by Mexican conservatives in a backlash against the changes instituted by the Mexican War of Reform (1857–1861). However, once on the throne, his support of a free press, open universities, land reform, and other progressive ideas of the day proved to be out of step with his conservative constituency and the Catholic Church. Menaced by the government of the United States, victorious after its own civil war, and the rising success of Mexican nationalist forces, the French withdrew their military support of Maximilian, the last emperor of Mexico. This historic image is one of 45,000 artistic and commercials prints housed in the Graphic Arts Collection of the National Museum of American History.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- sheet
- sheet (paper)
- Object Type
- relief
- Date made
- ca 1890
- graphic artist
- Babbage, T.
- publisher
- Magazine of Art
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- ink (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 17.7 cm x 24 cm; 6 15/16 in x 9 7/16 in
- Place Made
- United States: New York
- United Kingdom: England, London
- ID Number
- 1996.0197.350
- catalog number
- 1996.0197.350
- accession number
- 1996.0197
- subject
- Cultures & Communities
- Art
- Latino
- Cinco de Mayo
- France
- Mexican America
- See more items in
- Culture and the Arts: Graphic Arts
- Mexican America
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- Title (Spanish)
- El Último Momento del Emperador Maximiliano
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