Contemporary portrait of Henri Christophe, King of Haiti. Rare.

[Henri Christophe, King of Haiti] / Blasius Höfel (engraver). Heinrich I. König von Haiti. Vienna: bey S.A. Steiner und Comp., [c. 1811-20]. [37.5 x 24.8 cm the sheet, 27.0 x 20.5 cm the platemark], [1] f. stipple engraving. Minor abrasions and edge wear, tiny paper flaw with mend on verso, very minor toning, full margins.
 
 
Very rare (2 copies worldwide) first and only edition of this separately issued portrait of Henri Christophe (1767-1820), an important figure of the Haitian Revolution who became the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti. The bust-length portrait was executed using the stipple engraving method by the Austrian printmaker Blasius Höfel (1792-1863) and published by S.A. Steiner und Comp. in Vienna, a firm active from the early 1810s. This undated print very likely appeared during Henri Christophe’s reign, which ran from 1811 to 1820.
 
Henri Christophe is depicted in military regalia, wearing the Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of St. Henry (Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint Henry).
 
Henri Christophe first rose to prominence during the 1791 slave uprising in Haiti. He later served under Jean-Jacques Dessalines and fought with Toussaint Louverture. In 1820, “Christophe declared himself ‘King Henri I of Haiti, Sovereign of Ile de la Tortue, Ile de la Gonâve and other adjacent Islands, Destroyer of Tyranny, Regenerator and Benefactor of the Haitian Nation, First Monarch of the New World’” (Pezzullo, p. 55).
 
During his reign, Henri built numerous castles and palaces, including Sans-Souci and the Citadelle Laferrière. His reign was, of course, much watched in Europe, although depictions of him are relatively rare. This print by Blasius Höfel became a standard source image of Christophe and a model for other works (see, for example, the group of four miniature portraits on ivory by Ernst Christian Weser [1783-1860] in which a Christophe based on the Höfel print shares a frame with miniatures of Charlemagne, Cromwell, and Napoleon: Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden [Gal. Nr. M 126]).
 
 
OCLC, KVK, Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, and OMNIA locate 2 copies worldwide of this print: Yale Beinecke Library (Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection) and the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Bildarchiv Austria).
 
*Louis-Émile Élie, La vie tragique d’Henri Christophe; Jean-Hérold Pérard, Henry Christophe: Un grand méconnu; Hénock Trouillot, Le gouvernement du roi Henri Christophe; R. Pezzullo, Plunging into Haiti: Clinton, Aristide, and the Defeat of Diplomacy; Hubert Cole, Christophe, King of Haiti; John W. Vandercook, Black Majesty: The Life of Christophe, King of Haiti.