Blücher and Wellington play badminton with Napoleon, 1815

Johann Michael Voltz’s satirical print from the summer of 1815 transforms Europe’s great power struggle into an absurd match. Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher and the Duke of Wellington stand on opposite sides of a river playing badminton, while Napoleon himself flies between them as the shuttlecock. In the background, a coastal landscape and a city unfold.The image was created after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo on 18 June 1815. Voltz, a German painter, etcher, and political caricaturist, uses the lighthearted sport to make the fallen emperor’s powerlessness immediately intelligible. The hand-coloured etching combines richly detailed 19th-century graphic art with an unusually sharp visual idea, where the small figures and expansive setting give the satire a vivid and narrative expression.Artist: Johann Michael Voltz (1784–1858) | Created: 1815.Frame not included.Please note that the images are cropped slightly differently depending on the size you choose. Read more about image and print quality here: FAQ.