7" x 9" glass plate negative showing four photographs arranged together. One shows the firing squad responsible for the execution of Emperor Maximilian I on 19 June 1867, the other three are views of the Emperor's coat and waistcoat perforated by bullets, following his execution. Maximilian Ferdinand (1832-67), a younger brother of the Austrian emperor Francis Joseph I, was the self-proclaimed Emperor of Mexico (1864), following the French invasion of Mexico, started in 1861. Napoleon III of France had invited him to namely rule the country, while the Second French Empire was in fact the ruling power behind him. The withdrawal of the French and the consequent triumph of the Mexican Republicans eventually led to Maximilian's capture on 16 May 1867. He was sentenced to death, following a court-martial, and executed on 19 June of the same year. The glass plate negative has been photographed showing the coated side and therefore the image appears laterally reversed. Prints from this negative do not seem to exist in the Collection.
