Horace VERNET (1789-1863), attribué à

Black chalk, inscribed lower right in black chalk: H. Vernet 44.8 x 33 cm [17.6 x 13 in]

Provenance: Drouot Auction, Paris, Couturier-Nicolay, April 11, 1995, No. 17 (as Horace Vernet).

Grandson of Claude Joseph Vernet and a close associate of Théodore Géricault, Horace Vernet is one of the most prolific and celebrated painters of 19th-century France. A specialist in military and history painting, he served successive regimes from the Empire to Napoleon III, notably holding the position of Director of the French Academy in Rome from 1829 to 1835. His work is characterised by an exceptional visual memory and a rapid execution that allowed him to tackle vast compositions without preparatory sketches. His numerous travels to Algeria between 1833 and 1853 profoundly renewed his style, making him a major figure in documentary orientalism and colonial propaganda under Louis-Philippe.