Medaillon met portret van Henri Gatien Bertrand after 1834

Achille Collas created this print of a medallion depicting Henri Gatien Bertrand using engraving and machine-based techniques. Collas's print allows for the distribution of this image beyond those who would have access to the medallion itself. This portrait presents Bertrand in profile, a visual language linked to classical antiquity and often used to ennoble the sitter. France, in the early 19th century, was a society still grappling with the legacy of the Revolution and the Napoleonic era. Bertrand was a general under Napoleon and followed him into exile. The very creation and circulation of images like these can be seen as acts of remembrance, even resistance, to the regimes that followed. Historians would look into sources such as personal letters, military records, and the popular press of the time to understand the shifting public sentiments towards figures like Bertrand and the political implications of making and displaying their likenesses.