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243 - Jean-Louis GUDIN (1799-1823), attributed to, The capture of …
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Estimate €800 - €1,200
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Description
Jean-Louis GUDIN (1799-1823), attributed to, The capture of Alexandria, 3rd July 1798. Watercolour gouache, pen and black ink on two sheets mounted on old cardboard. Coaster, pitchpin frame. H.45 x W.60.5 cm. B.E. (Traces of humidity) On the reverse side of the cardboard, there are accounting leaves dating from 1821. This composition was used to illustrate volume III of the Trophée des armées françaises, campagne d'Égypte, based on a drawing by Gudin, engraved by Couché fils and finished by Bovinet, and later published in Images d'Épinal. Historical background: The capture of Alexandria on 3 July 1798, the day after the French landed, was the first battle fought in Egypt and the first victory against the Mamluks. It was in the same town, on 21 March 1801, that the last battle of the Egyptian campaign took place. It pitted the French troops commanded by General Menou against the British forces led by Sir Ralph Abercromby, who had landed in Egypt to put an end to the French presence. Despite fierce resistance from the French soldiers and Abercromby's death from wounds, the battle marked a decisive turning point in favour of the British and preceded the French capitulation a few months later. Biography: Jean-Louis GUDIN was a French painter and illustrator active during the late First Empire and early Restoration. The elder brother of the marine painter Théodore Gudin, he grew up in an artistic milieu marked by a taste for history painting, military scenes and Napoleonic subjects characteristic of the early 19th century. His career was cut short by his tragic death on 4 March 1823, when he drowned in the Seine at the age of twenty-four. This episode is recounted by Eugène Sue in volume IV of La Vie de Paris (pp. 228-235).
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About the sale The Empire at Fontainebleau - Second day
Auction location
Auction time 06/21/2026 at 10:30 AM
Lot description modified on 06/10/2026 at 10:49 AM
Pictures credits:
Michel Bury and Henri du Cray
See original version (French)
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