The Battle of Valmy | |
---|---|
Artist | Horace Vernet |
Year | 1826 |
Type | Oil on canvas, history painting |
Dimensions | 174.6 cm× 287 cm(68.7 in× 113 in) |
Location | National Gallery, London |
The Battle of Valmy is an 1826 history painting by the French artist Horace Vernet. [1] [2] It depicts the Battle of Valmy, one of the earliest battles of the French Revolutionary Wars fought on 20 September 1792. [3] The revolutionary French troops defeated an advance by a coalition of Foreign forces under the command of the Duke of Brunswick. [4]
It was the last of four large battle paintings commissioned from Vernet by the Duke of Orleans, a future monarch of France, each commemorating notable French victories from the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. When the Duke came to the throne following the July Revolution he hung the battle paintings in his residence at the Palais-Royal in Paris. All four of the series of paintings are now in the collection of the National Gallery in London, having passed through the ownership of the art collector Lord Hertford following the death of Orleans in exile. [5]
1792 (MDCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 1792nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 792nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 92nd year of the 18th century, and the 3rd year of the 1790s decade. As of the start of 1792, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
Louis Philippe I, nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. He abdicated from his throne during the French Revolution of 1848, which led to the foundation of the French Second Republic. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the French Revolutionary Wars and was promoted to lieutenant general by the age of nineteen, but he broke with the Republic over its decision to execute King Louis XVI. He fled to Switzerland in 1793 after being connected with a plot to restore France's monarchy. His father Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, fell under suspicion and was executed during the Reign of Terror.
The War of the First Coalition was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that succeeded it. They were only loosely allied and fought without much apparent coordination or agreement; each power had its eye on a different part of France it wanted to appropriate after a French defeat, which never occurred.
François-Étienne-Christophe Kellermann or de Kellermann, 1st Duke of Valmy was a French military commander, later the Général d'Armée, a Marshal of the Empire and freemason. Marshal Kellermann served in varying roles throughout the entirety of two epochal conflicts, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Kellermann is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 3.
The Battle of Valmy, also known as the Cannonade of Valmy, was the first major victory by the army of France during the Revolutionary Wars that followed the French Revolution. The battle took place on 20 September 1792 as Prussian troops commanded by the Duke of Brunswick attempted to march on Paris. Generals François Kellermann and Charles Dumouriez stopped the advance near the northern village of Valmy in Champagne-Ardenne.
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted France against Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and several other countries. The wars are divided into two periods: the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802). Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension. After a decade of constant warfare and aggressive diplomacy, France had conquered territories in the Italian Peninsula, the Low Countries, and the Rhineland due to its very large and powerful military, which had been totally mobilized for war against most of Europe with mass conscription of the vast French population. French success in these conflicts ensured military occupation and the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe.
Émile Jean-Horace Vernet more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects.
John Trumbull was an American painter and military officer best known for his historical paintings of the American Revolutionary War, of which he was a veteran. He has been called the "Painter of the Revolution". Trumbull's Declaration of Independence (1817), one of his four paintings that hang in the United States Capitol rotunda, is used on the reverse of the current United States two-dollar bill.
Claude-Joseph Vernet was a French painter. His son, Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, was also a painter.
The French Revolutionary Army was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1802. In the beginning, the French armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment and their great numbers. However, the French Revolutionary Army had become arguably the most powerful army in the world by the mid-1790s, as the French armies had become well-experienced and organized, enabling them to comfortably outfight their enemies.
The Brunswick Manifesto was a proclamation issued by Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, commander of the Allied army, on 25 July 1792 to the population of Paris, France during the War of the First Coalition. The manifesto threatened that if the French royal family were harmed, then French civilians would be harmed. It was said to have been a measure intended to intimidate Paris, but rather helped further spur the increasingly radical French Revolution and finally led to the war between Revolutionary France and counter-revolutionary monarchies.
Friedrich William, Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Kirchberg was born in Kirchberg, Hohenlohe, Holy Roman Empire on 2 December 1732. He was a member of an old comital and, subsequently, princely (Fürstlich) family of Hohenlohe, with extensive properties on the plateau south of the Main river, between the Imperial City of Schwäbisch Hall and the old Franconian city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
Events from the year 1792 in France.
The Battle of Aboukir by Antoine-Jean Gros is an oil-on-canvas painting commissioned by Joachim Murat in 1805, and completed in 1806. The painting is a showcase of Napoleonic propaganda, historical accuracy, and emotional intensity. It was in the National Palace of Naples in 1808, and was bought by the Musée du Luxembourg in 1833. Since 1835 it is part of the art collection of the Palace of Versailles. An original sketch, Murat Defeating the Turkish Army at Aboukir, was completed before the larger painting, and is now on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The final work served as Gros’ submission for the Salon of 1806.
Marguerite Émilie Félecité Chalgrin was an aristocratic French painter who was executed by guillotine in 1794.
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.
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 Duke of Angoulême at the Taking of Trocadero is an 1828 oil-on-canvas painting by the French painter Paul Delaroche. Combining elements of portraiture and history painting, it shows Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême during the Battle of Trocadero on 31 August 1823.
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.