First Sketch for "The Pest House at Jaffa" (Premiere esquisse des Pestiferes de Jaffa)

Napoleon Bonaparte surrounded by his officers stands holding the wretched limp body of a victim of the pest, and he gazes sadly at the other miserable sufferers lying upon the floor about him, writhing in their agony, some delirious, some already released from their pain by death. The officers show mixed reactions, some are horrified that their general exposes himself thus, some protest, while one pours some water for a stricken soldier, one is about to be ill, and another has already fainted.