The Battle of Fontenoy took place on 11 May 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession, near Tournai, then part of the Austrian Netherlands, now in Belgium. A French army of 50,000 under Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Army of roughly the same size, led by the Duke of Cumberland.
Émile Jean-Horace Vernet more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects.
Jean-Baptiste Édouard Detaille was a French academic painter and military artist noted for his precision and realistic detail. He was regarded as the "semi-official artist of the French army".
Military art is art with a military subject matter, regardless of its style or medium. The battle scene is one of the oldest types of art in developed civilizations, as rulers have always been keen to celebrate their victories and intimidate potential opponents. The depiction of other aspects of warfare, especially the suffering of casualties and civilians, has taken much longer to develop. As well as portraits of military figures, depictions of anonymous soldiers on the battlefield have been very common; since the introduction of military uniforms such works often concentrate on showing the variety of these.
Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, better known as Carle Vernet, was a French painter, the youngest child of Claude-Joseph Vernet and the father of Horace Vernet.
Louis, Dauphin of France was the elder and only surviving son of King Louis XV of France and his wife, Queen Marie Leszczyńska. As a son of the king, Louis was a fils de France. As heir apparent, he became Dauphin of France. Although he died before ascending to the throne himself, all three of his sons who made it to adulthood were to later rule France: Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X (1824–1830).
Eugène Louis Lami was a French painter and lithographer. He was a painter of fashionable Paris during the period of the July Monarchy and the Second French Empire and also made history paintings and illustrations for books such as Gil Blas and Manon Lescaut.
Thomas Jones Barker was an English historical, military, and portrait painter.
Juste milieu is a term that has been used to describe centrist political philosophies that try to find a balance between extremes, and artistic forms that try to find a middle ground between the traditional and the modern. In the political sense it is most associated with the French July Monarchy (1830–1848), which ostensibly tried to strike a balance between autocracy and anarchy. The term has been used in both a positive and negative sense.
Jean Baptiste Auguste Vinchon was a French painter.
Ivan Mazepa (1639–1709) was a significant figure in the history of Ukraine. One story about him says that as a young man, he was caught in flagrante with a noblewoman, whose husband punished him by tying him naked to a wild horse and setting them free; eventually he reached the Cossacks and became their military leader. This legend caught the attention of the English poet Lord Byron, whose Mazeppa (1819) brought the events to wider attention. His narrative poem inspired many paintings, particularly by French Romantics, which in turn stimulated musical compositions, stage plays, more poems, and so on. New life was breathed into the equestrian tale when it was transposed to the American Wild West. With the independence of Ukraine in 1991, the figure of Mazepa is once again on the international stage.
The Barrière de Clichy. Defence of Paris, 30 March 1814 is an oil-on-canvas painting by Horace Vernet from 1820. It shows a battle against Russian cossacks at the barrière de Clichy, highlighting the soldiers present but not engaged in fighting. Vernet's participation in this battle marked his only experience in active combat, which influenced his choice of subject matter for the remainder of his career.
The Battle of Friedland is an 1835 history painting by the French artist Horace Vernet. It depicts the Battle of Friedland fought on 14 June 1807 in East Prussia during the Napoleonic Wars. The battle was a decisive victory for French forces over their Russian enemies. At the subsequent Treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon was able to dictate peace terms to his beaten opponents. It is also sometimes known as Napoleon at the Battle of Friedland.
Napoleon Accepting the Surrender of Madrid is an 1810 history painting by the French artist Antoine-Jean Gros. It depicts Napoleon, Emperor of France accepting the surrender of Madrid on 4 December 1808 during the Peninsular War. Napoleon is shown with his general staff receiving a delegation from the city.
Joseph Vernet Tied to a Mast During a Storm is an 1822 history painting by the French artist Horace Vernet. It depicts a famous, possibly apocryphal, incident from the life of the artist's grandfather the marine painter Joseph Vernet who lashed himself to the mast of a ship in order to witness the effects of a storm. He had received a commission from Louis XV to paint a series of pictures depicting the ports of France and after departing Italy had run into a violent storm. As a rising artist Horace Vernet promoted his connection with his celebrated grandfather but quickly developed a reputation as a prolific and versatile painter in his own right.
The Battle of Jemmapes is an 1821 history painting by the French artist Horace Vernet. It depicts the Battle of Jemmapes fought on 6 November 1792 near Jemappes in modern-day Belgium. Stylistically it is part of the developing romantic movement in art.
L'Atelier is an 1821 painting by the French artist Horace Vernet. It depicts the interior of his Studio located on the Rue des Martyrs in Paris. It depicts Vernet in his studio with art students. The artist is shown fencing in the middle of the canvas, with an épée in one hand and a Palette in the other. To emphasise his lineage as a painter Vernet included a bust of his grandfather Joseph and a painting of his father Carle's painting The Triumph of Aemilius Paullus.
The Battle of Valmy is an 1826 history painting by the French artist Horace Vernet. It depicts the Battle of Valmy, one of the earliest battles of the French Revolutionary Wars fought on 20 September 1792. The revolutionary French troops defeated an advance by a coalition of Foreign forces under the command of the Duke of Brunswick.
The Battle of Montmirail is an 1822 history painting by the French artist Horace Vernet. It depicts the 1814 Battle of Montmirail during the Napoleonic Wars. It was one of four battle scenes Vernet painted on a commission by the Duke of Orleans, a cousin of Louis XVIII and himself a future monarch of France. Vernet received a total of thirty eight thousand francs for the four works. It depicts the Battle Montmirail, one of the final victories of the French emperor Napoleon. Fought on 11 February 1814 during the Six Days' Campaign, Napoleon's success there ultimately didn't prevent the fall of Paris and his abdication two months later.
The Siege of Antwerp is an 1840 history painting by the French artist Horace Vernet. It depicts the 1832 Siege of Antwerp when the French Army of the North besieged and captured the Dutch-held Antwerp Citadel in Belgium. The concluding stage of the Belgian Revolution it was a major foreign policy boost for the new July Monarchy of Louis Philippe I. The painting shows Marshal Gérard order the assault on the Citadel. He is accompanied by the Duke of Orléans and the Duke of Nemours, the two eldest sons of the king. To the left a group of soldiers drink and warm themselves by a fire while to the right a cantinière treats wounded troops.
