FIGHTING
FOR NAPOLEON: TWO BATTLE PAINTINGS BY HORACE VERNET
18th JUNE – 12th SEPTEMBER 2004
The Battle
of Hanau (1813)
The Battle of Montmirail (1814)
With its opening coinciding with Waterloo Day on 18th June, this exhibition
offers a superb opportunity to see what it was like to be a Napoleonic
soldier. At its centre, generously lent by the National Gallery, visitors
will have the chance to see close at hand, two large and splendid paintings
of The Battle of Hanau and The Battle of Montmirail. Having been part
of the original Wallace Collection, they were bequeathed to the National
Gallery by Sir John Murray Scott, who inherited them on the death of Lady
Wallace in 1897. These paintings, which depict two of Napoleon’s
last victories, are each almost three metres wide and meticulously detailed.
They provide fascinating insights into the battle experiences of Napoleonic
soldiers in the last years of Napoleon’s reign. They were painted
by the great nineteenth-century French painter Horace Vernet in 1822 and
1824 for the duc d’Orléans, later Louis-Philippe, King of
the French. They will be accompanied by a portrait of Napoleon, also by
Vernet, which was painted in 1815 for Lord Kinnaird, who like Lord Hertford,
was also a British admirer of Napoleon. Also on display will be sixteen
nineteenth-century watercolours of Napoleonic military scenes owned by
the Wallace Collection, including works by Hippolyte Bellangé,
Léon Cogniet, Auguste Raffet and again Horace Vernet, together
with an exciting display of Napoleonic arms and armour.
As ever,
there will be a host of activities for children and adults alike, associated
with the exhibition, ranging from a Napoleonic walking tour between Hertford
House and the Duke of Wellington’s home, Apsley House, on 19th June,
to family activities such as exploring life as a Napoleonic soldier and
art classes on the perspective in the two battle paintings.
The
Wallace Collection
Hertford house
Manchester Square
London W1U 3BN
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