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Premium Karl Benz
232 - B
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FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1795. Portrait of "Monsieur Alexis" in u…
See original version (French)
232 - B
-
FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1795. Portrait of "Monsieur Alexis" in u…
See original version (French)
Estimate €1,500 - €2,000
Voluntary lot
Description
FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1795.
Portrait of "Monsieur Alexis" in uniform of the 1st Regiment of the Cadre du Léon of the Royal Army of the West.
Oil on canvas titled on the back.
Height : 72,5 cm. Width: 54.5 cm (Accidents, restorations).
In bust form, he is wearing a scarlet red habit, dark blue scalloped straight collar with double gold piping, scarlet lapels with gold piping, dark blue facings with gold piping, shoulder tabs of the same colour. The decorative piping, not visible here, is white with gold fleur-de-lys. Gold shoulder straps and fringes, yellow buttons. White waistcoat with cloth buttons.
Provenance:
- By family tradition: count Henri-Alexis Hingant de Saint-Maur, known as "Monsieur Alexis".
- By direct and uninterrupted descent to the 5th generation, Baron Moreau de Bellaing, Manoir du Vally, Guingamp.
Historical note of the regiment of Dresnay, then Léon:
Since April 1793, the Marquis de Dresnay had assembled in Jersey a troop corps of 20 companies of 60 men each, made up of French émigrés and intended to form the cadres of future Breton, Norman or Vendée regiments in the event of a raid on France.
In Jersey, the situation of the nobles was generally very precarious. The few louis they had hastily collected in the rush to leave quickly ran out and their last resource was the monthly allowance of 36 livres allocated to them by the Jersey government.
In August 1794, du Dresnay, who had assembled around 400 men, was appointed to command a "white cockade" regiment; he had to leave Jersey to attend to the affairs of his new corps in London. The English Government, on the advice of the Comte de Puisaye, then decided to form a series of "cadre regiments" in the Channel Islands, modelled on du Dresnay's old corps.
According to Puisaye, "one of the first purposes of establishing these corps was to offer a means of subsistence to a number of émigrés whose situation here appeared to be such that they could only find an honourable, albeit modest, way of subsisting agreeable, until such time as an expedition to France came into being. If such a fortunate event were to take place and regiments were to be formed from the inhabitants of these regions, there can be no doubt that the desire of the (English) Government is to give preference as officers in these regiments to those who, either as officers or soldiers, belong to this corps, and to place them as soon as possible in a position appropriate to their rank and merit.
The corps was quickly recruited from among the Bretons of the former "du Dresnay" and volunteers from England and Germany.
Held back in London by higher orders, Dresnay was forced to leave his regiment before the emigrants landed at Quiberon, but was unable to take part because of intrigues, according to other sources. The English government felt that Dresnay had a lot to do with the training of his recruits. It ordered that the Jersey muster should in future form two separate corps. The command of the first was to be made up of Breton gentlemen and was given to Louis-Antoine de Rohan-Chabot (1733-1807), Prince of Léon, whose name, rank and immense holdings in Brittany should make this choice as agreeable to his compatriots as it was advantageous, in every respect, to the general cause. This unit is therefore called the du Dresnay, then Léon, regiment. The second regiment, which included emigrants from other provinces, was given to the Count du Trésor, a gentleman from Normandy, a general officer of real merit, who rightly enjoyed general esteem. Moreover, as a result of this appointment, most of the émigrés who were fit to bear arms, who were living in London or who were scattered throughout the counties, and others whom the rumours that had spread on the continent were daily attracting to England, offered their services.
It was therefore the Léon regiment of Prince Louis-Antoine de Rohan-Chabot (1733-1807) that took part in the landing of the emigrants at Quiberon.
The life of Count Henri-Alexis Hingant de Saint-Maur was all about defending the Throne and the Altar.
Born in 1754 in Guitté (Poudouvre), he began his career with the Brittany coastguard cannoneers. After his first arrest in 1791, he was imprisoned in Broons and shortly afterwards emigrated to Wittich (Germany). He took part in the 1792 campaign in the Army of the Princes and went to Jersey in 1793 as a volunteer in the emigrant corps under the orders of the Marquis du Dresnay.
Having landed at Quiberon in 1795, he placed himself at the disposal of Georges Cadoudal, who sent him to organise the Chouannerie in Léon and Trégor.
Appointed division commander of the Chouans Army with the rank of Colonel on 23 January 1796, he took part in various operations, particularly those at Pommerit, Penvénan and Brélidy near Tréguier. He had under his command the renowned "Pierre Taupin", a Chouan leader in Guingamp.
In 1799, "Monsieur Alexis" came under the direct orders of Georges Cadoudal.
Having submitted in 1800, he was amnestied and placed under house arrest until 1805.
He returned to service in 1815 in the Sol de Grisolles Division and was made a Knight of the Order of Saint Louis in 1817.
He died in 1832 at the Manoir du Vally in Guingamp, a property he had acquired in 1811.
(Source: writings of Yves Moreau de Bellaing, his great-great-grandson).
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Lot description modified on 06/09/2026 at 5:40 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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