Horace VERNET (Paris, 1789-1863)

Napoleon at Montereau on February 18, 1814. Oil on canvas, signed lower right "Horace Vernet". Re-tooled. In a gilded wood frame with palmettes at the corners. H. 54.5 x W. 65 cm. Frame: H. 68 x W. 78 cm. Provenance Osenat sale, Fontainebleau, December 20, 2018, lot 172 (sold for €31,250). History The Battle of Montereau took place on February 18, 1814 at Montereau (Seine-et-Marne), resulting in a victory for the French under Napoleon over Austrian and Württemberg troops commanded by the Royal Prince of Württemberg. At the beginning of 1814, the Bohemian army, a combination of Prussians, Austrians and Germans, crossed the Rhine in an attempt to invade France. At the gateway to the Seine-et-Marne region, the troops encountered the French army, and suffered Napoleon's offensive at Montereau. After a bloody battle, the French suffered heavy losses, but many Bohemian army prisoners were captured, including one of Prince de Schwartzenberg's generals. The battle of Montereau was one of the last victories of Napoleon's army. Horace Vernet - and not Eugène Lami, as many engravers and lithographers in the second half of the 19th century assumed - chose to depict the Emperor in a cloud of smoke, in the thick of battle, but concentrating on checking the cannon fire of his artillerymen. Literature Cat. exhibition, Horace Vernet (1789 - 1863), Château de Versailles, November 14 - March 17 2024, under the dir. of Valérie Bajou, ed. Faton, 2023.