Wolverhampton Art Gallery (OP 121). Acquired from the Fine Art Society in 1935.

Edward Bird started his life as a son of a poor Wolverhampton carpenter and finished as a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and court painter to Charlotte, Princess of Wales. He was the only 18th century local artist who became a Royal Academician.
Among his many works are landscapes, portraits, fancy pictures, book illustrations, domestic scenes and historical paintings. In 1814 he began his ambitious project - to depict contemporary history: the fall of Napoleon, restoration of the French monarchy, and return of Louis XVIII to France which Bird considered "the fundamental cause of bringing about the tranquillity of the civilised world". On the far right of the painting he included himself, holding his hat and sketchbook. A companion picture “The Embarkation of Louis XVIII” is in the collection of Bristol Art Gallery.

Many West Midlands figures, such as Joseph Priestley had welcomed the French Revolution in 1789 as an expression of political liberty. The execution of Louis XVI and the outbreak of war between Britain and France changed the political climate and made it difficult and dangerous to support radical ideas. In Birmingham the Priestley Riots of 1791 set back reform for several decades. The British Government supported the restoration of the French monarchy after the defeat of Napoleon. Bird’s painting symbolized the hope of conservatives that the established order in Europe was cemented in place, but radicalism and revolutionary ideas were not defeated and re-emerged in the 1820s. In the West Midlands demands for political liberty found expression in several campaigns, including Thomas Attwood’s Birmingham Political Union.