Detail showing Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul giving orders to his staff. The battle scene is in the background, the fighting is only indicated by clouds of smoke.
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The French Revolutionary Wars enabled Swebach to practise his talent as a draughtsman very early on, sketching from life, in pencil or ink, scenes which were then reworked in wash or watercolour. The Napoleonic campaigns next offered him multiple subjects and, abandoning the military anecdote for a while, he made a little foray into historical painting by depicting battles.
The Battle of Marengo kept in the collections of the Fondation Napoléon predates the painting of the Salon of 1802. This oil on panel, signed 1801, reveals the artist's full talent as he here demonstrates his fascination with Dutch painting.
The Battle of Marengo by Swebach-Desfontaines, detail: Napoleon Bonaparte First Consul
Artist(s) : SWEBACH Jacques-François-Joseph, dit Swebach-Desfontaines
- Date :
- 1801
- Technique :
- Oil on wood
- Place held :
- Fondation Napoléon, Inv.764, donation Lapeyre
- Photo credit :
- © Fondation Napoléon - Patrice Maurin-Berthier