The Emperor's Horse (Primary Title)
Alfred De Dreux, French, 1810 - 1860 (Artist)
Alfred Dedreux trained with the Romantic generation, notably Théodore Géricault. A horse enthusiast himself, he became inspired by the tradition of 18th-century British Sporting painting and attempted to introduce the iconographic codes of artists like George Stubbs and Benjamin Marshall in mid-19th century France.
Littzy, The Emperor’s Horse was commissioned by the French Imperial Household to accompany the purchase of an official equestrian portrait of Emperor Napoleon III by that same artist (now kept at the Palace of Compiègne, France). The Emperor had purchased the beautiful thoroughbred mare, his favorite horse, during his exile in London a few years before seizing power in France in 1851. In the painting, Littzy is held by bridle by a piqueur—a groom—of the Imperial Household, dressed in full State attire. Dedreux carefully hides the man’s face behind that of the horse, ensuring that the viewer’s attention focuses on the animal rather than on the human figure.
Despite the absence of representation of the sovereign himself, the composition evokes the prestige of the Second Empire, the last monarchy to have reigned over France, from 1852–70, and all the bygone pomp and splendor of its court life and ceremonials.
"The French Horse from Géricault to Picasso: Works from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts", University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, March 3 - April 25, 2016; ", The National Sporting Library & Museum, Middleburg, VA, May 6 - July 31, 2016
"Rendez-vous a cheval, Pferde und Reiter um 1800", Schloss Jegenstorf, Bern, Switzerland, June 6 - October 18, 1970.
Smarthistory: Alfred De Dreux, The Emperor’s Horse
6:01A conversation with Dr. Sylvain Cordier, Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Dr. Steven Zucker.
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