Viktor de Bornschlegel, 1820 – 1891 LES DRAGONNADES Oil on canvas. Doubled. 129.5 x 163 cm. Signed and dated "V. de Bornschlegel 1847" lower left. In a magnificent gilt frame. A Catholic friar in a brown habit with tonsure standing in an interior space in the center of the painting, holding a book in his left hand and pointing with his right at an anxious-looking family. On the left is the standing father with his arms crossed, in front of him his two children and his wife, who turns to the priest with a pleading look. On the right side of the picture, an officer is seated at a table, partly in armor, with three other nobly dressed soldiers with feathered hats standing behind him. They presumably seem to be waiting for the family to renounce their Protestant faith; it is also possible that they are waiting to be quartered in this family's house. Dragonnades were the name given to the punitive measures taken by King Louis XIV of France against the Protestant Camisards in southern and south-western France. The aim was to force their conversion to the Catholic faith. Dragoons or "missionaries in boots" were quartered by order of the king in the villages that were considered rebellious, but only in the homes of Protestants. The families concerned had to tolerate the soldiers in their homes and pay for their food. The painting seems to refer to this punitive measure. Narrative depiction in predominantly beige-brown colors with skillful chiaroscuro. Partly retouching, partly frame damage. (1361114) (18)