English: Émile-Jean-Horace Vernet (1789 - 1863)

Portrait of the Général Marquis de Talhouët-Roy

oil on canvas

canvas: 38½ by 51¼ in.; 97.9 by 130.1 cm

Provenance

Frédéric Marquis de Talhouët-Roy (1788-1842), Château du Lude, Sarthe, acquired directly from the above.

Auguste Élisabeth Joseph Bon-Amour de Talhouët-Roy (1819-1884), his son, by descent

René François Honoré Marie de Talhouët-Roy (1855-1948), his son, by descent

Frédéric Comte de La Rochefoucauld (b. 1955), by descent

Sale: Drouot, 30 March 1994 (by Mes Gros et Delettrez)

His sale: Christie's, New York, 22 May 1997, lot 76

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Note

Even before his celebrated debut at the Paris Salon of 1812, Horace Vernet was destined for success. Third in a line of painters, Horace was literally born at the Palais du Louvre where his father, Carle, was living as court painter under Louis XVIII. Horace had his first brush with battle at age four when on August 10, 1792 he and his family were forced to flee the Louvre with the storming of the Tuileries Palace.

While his grandfather, Joseph Vernet, is remembered as a painter of marines and his father, Carle, as an equestrian painter, Horace is the preeminent chronicler of military might, an artist whose meticulousness combined with studied elegance and style won him the most prestigious of patrons, from Napoleon Bonaparte to Louis-Philippe, who commissioned the crowning achievement of Vernet’s official career: a series of large battle scenes for the Musée de l'Histoire de France at Versailles. By 1818, the year this painting was made, Vernet had already been awarded the Cross of the Légion d'Honneur and the fame he had known in the last years of the Empire continued under the new political order which he gladly championed.

The Marquis de Talhouët had also launched his career with the Empire. A native of Brittany and graduate of the Ecole militaire de Fontainebleau, Auguste Frédéric Marquis de Talhouët was promoted to the rank of officer by Napoleon in 1807. Noted for his bravery, Talhouët distinguished himself during the Russian campaign as part of the Grande Armée. Injured in the Battle of Moskova (also known as the Battle of Borodino) and again during the subsequent retreat, he was left for dead, and would have been, had one of his own soldiers not carried him back from the front. Such an account inevitably appealed to Vernet, who painted the Marquis de Talhouët twice, each time as a proud and victorious commander. On September 12, 1815 the Bourbon king that they both now supported, appointed Talhouët Colonel of the Deuxième Régiment de Grenadiers à cheval de la Garde royale, the Guard portrayed with him here.

Vernet's rendering of soldiers was so accurate that he was rumored to have fought in battle himself. With the exception of a few days service in the defense of Paris in 1814, however, his closest encounter with the army was in his own studio, filled as it was with uniforms and weapons and the sound of military music that he loved to listen to while painting les scènes de guerre. This dedication to detail is perfectly illustrated in the present portrait and was noted by contemporary reviewers:

Not a speck of dust marred these uniforms. These riding boots shine with unparalleled brilliance [...] M. Vernet has neither changed nor added anything to the subject he had to render [...] This tour de force is certainly one of the most remarkable that the art of painting has produced in our day.[1]

The Deuxième Régiment de grenadiers existed as such only from 1815 to 1821, and officers of the regiment can be identified by the red stripe on their collars and the cordes de requet that hang from their bearskin helmets. The entwined Ls on the saddlepad of the dapple-gray horse are the emblem of Louis XVIII, King of France from 1814-1815 and then again from 1815-1824. The medals adorning the vest of the Marquis—the blue centered star of the Légion d'Honneur, the green/yellow Ordre de Guttenberg and the star-shaped Ordre de St. Louis—are all listed in the Annuaire Militaire of 1819, as are those of his fellow officers.

It is possible that the standing officer to the left whose finger is pointed as if giving an order to the soldier who salutes him is Lieutenant-Colonel Rabusson. It has also been suggested that the one officer without a hat may be Major Ilairs. The remaining figures standing close to Talhouet may represent the Chef d'escadrons Stralenheim, Chasteigner and de Noirville. The superior officers, framed by the curving bodies of the horses on either side, stand on the raised foreground of the picture which underlines their importance. The mounted Trompette on the far left is the highest point of the picture from which the viewer's eye is drawn diagonally down to the lower right of the composition where a kneeling woman offers her wares from a basket to a group of soldiers. The scene is set against the background of the École Militaire in Paris—on the Champ de Mars where the soldiers still ride out, now under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

The Colonel Marquis de Talhouët pursued a successful military career, appointed to the rank of General, and in 1817 married Alexandrine-Laure-Sophie Roy, daughter of Comte Antoine Roy—Minister of Finance to both Louis XVIII and Charles X. One of the greatest landowners of France, the Marquis de Talhouët-Roy (as he was known after his marriage) was also the owner of the famous Renaissance castle, the Château de Lude where this picture remained until the end of the 19th century.

The painting was likely shown in the 1819 Salon, where it is listed in the catalogue as Revue du 2e. régiment des grenadiers à cheval de la garde-royale. A portrait of Talhouët, likely the standalone portrait, is mentioned in the appendix of Armand Dayot's 1898 book, Les Vernet: Joseph, Carle, Horace, taken from Madame Vernet’s account books, as having been sold in May 1818 for 3,000 francs, though this is likely the standalone portrait (and in line with the price paid for Vernet’s portrait of the Duc d’Orléans in 1817). The present painting is also listed in the 1854 inventory made after the death of the Marquise de Talhouët, née Roy, the sitter's wife, and remained in the Talhouët-Roy family until the mid 1990s.

[1] “Pas un grai de poussiere ne depare ces habits d'uniforme. ces bottes a l'ecuyere brillent d'un éclat sans pareil [...] M. Vernet n'a rien changé ni rien ajouté au sujet qu'il avait à rendre [...] Ce tour de force est certainement l'un des plus remarquables que l'art de peindre ait produit de nos jours.” E. de Jouy and A. Jay, Salon de M. H. Vernet, 1822, pp. 101-102.