Vivant Beaucé Creates One of the Earliest Lithographed Posters Advertising a New Book Published by L. Curmer

In 1845 painter, designer, engraver and illustrator Vivant Beaucé (1818-1876) created a large (690 x 530 mm) lithographed poster for the Parisian publisher Léon Curmer, to advertise in bookstores Alphonse Balleydier's new Histoire politique et militaire du peuple de Lyon published by Curmer.
This was a summary of the history of the Rhone city during the revolutionary period.

The poster is one of the earliest lithographed posters advertising a book. In the poster the city in flames in the background, and the black flag, allude to the siege of Lyon in 1793 by the troops of the Convention, followed by the massacres of the Brotteaux and the infamous sanction dispossessing Lyon of its name, to be called only Commune-enfranchie. The woman in distress, is an allegory for the city. She holds in her hand its titulary crown as if it were dispossessed of it.  The angel holds the palm of martyrdom, showing the way to a brighter future promised by the restoration of the monarchy. The loom shuttle and the spools of silk seen on the left leg of the allegorical figure complete the city's identification with its flagship Jacquard loom industry. The Rhône and the Saône, respectively represented as an old man leaning on a tiller and a young woman, both accompanied by water flowing from urns symbolizing their fluvial nature, constitute allegorical figures traditionally associated with iconographic representations of Lyon.