Battlefield with Soldier on Horseback (Napoleon?)

baron Antoine Jean Gros

ca.1810 · Pen and black ink on beige antique laid paper · Drawings and Prints

Gros was among the most prolific of Napoleon’s propagandist painters. His lifelong passion for drawing horses in action suited him to the task of producing large-scale military subjects. Here, a mounted figure—possibly Napoleon—on a rearing horse leads a summarily indicated troop across a battlefield, suggested by the fallen soldier in the lower right foreground. The calligraphic curves and quick zigzag hatching are characteristic of Gros’s use of pen and ink.

Artist

baron Antoine Jean Gros

Date

ca.1810

Medium

Pen and black ink on beige antique laid paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Renée Sacks Bequest, 2008