HORACE VERNET (1789-1863) Napoleon's Farewell... - Lot 133 - Osenat

HORACE VERNET (1789-1863) Napoleon's Farewell to the Imperial Guard at Fontainebleau, April 20, 1814. Black pencil on several sheets assembled 38.8 x 56.8 cm. Framed, under glass. Our study is certainly preparatory to the realization of the painting by Horace Vernet. Provenance : Sale Palais d'Orsay, Maître Renaud, 21 November 1978, n°20. Related work: Antoine Alphonse MONTFORT, (after Horace Vernet) : Napoleon I's farewell to the Imperial Guard in the courtyard of the white horse of the Château de Fontainebleau, April 20, 1814, Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon. History: "Soldiers of my old Guard, I bid you farewell. For twenty years, I have found you constantly on the path of honor and glory. In these last days, as in those of our prosperity, you have never ceased to be models of bravery and fidelity. With men like you, our cause was not lost. But the war was interminable, it would have been a civil war, and France would have become even more miserable. I thus sacrificed all our interests to those of the fatherland, I leave. You, my friends, continue to serve France. Her happiness was my only thought, it will always be the object of my wishes! Do not pity my fate, if I agreed to survive, it is to still serve our glory, I want to write the great things that we did together...! Farewell, my children! I would like to press you all on my heart, that I embrace at least your flag! [After having hugged General Petit, and kissed the flag, Napoleon continues:] Farewell once again, my old companions! May this last kiss pass into your hearts!" Bibliography: Baron Fain: Manuscript of 1814, Paris, Bossange, 1830, p. 251-252