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Jean-Charles LANGLOIS (Beaumont-en-Auge, 1789 – 1870, Paris)…
See original version (French)
68
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Jean-Charles LANGLOIS (Beaumont-en-Auge, 1789 – 1870, Paris)…
See original version (French)
Estimate €3,000 - €4,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Jean-Charles LANGLOIS (Beaumont-en-Auge, 1789 – 1870, Paris)
The Battle of Castalla on 21 July 1812
Original painting
35 x 50 cm – 13 3/4 x 19 3/4 in.
A version with variations on the large-format painting (Fig. 1) held at Versailles (inv. 5625) and commissioned in 1836 by Louis-Philippe.
The Battle of Castalla on 21 July 1812, original canvas
Provenance:
Private collection, France.
Related work(s):
A version with variations on the large-format painting (Fig. 1) commissioned in 1838 by Louis-Philippe and held at Versailles (inv. 5625).
Description:
‘Mr Langlois is the pupil of whom I am most proud; his efforts and tireless zeal have, in a short space of time, raised him above the young men who intend to pursue a career in the arts’[1], wrote Horace Vernet of our painter. Born in Normandy to a father who ran an inn, he received a good education, entered the École Polytechnique and chose to pursue a military career. Until then, nothing had predestined him to be taught by his famous master
A loyal supporter of Napoleon, perhaps in search of a new purpose, he took up painting following the fall of the Empire and, on his return to Paris in 1817, frequented the studios of Géricault and then Vernet. Whilst continuing his military career, however, he combined it with this passion for painting, which had deeply captivated him, and quickly built a reputation as an excellent battle painter. Maxime du Camp wrote: ‘Colonel Langlois truly worked like a magician and created reality. It is said of a portrait that it bears a likeness: all that is missing is the subject’s voice; of his battle scenes, one might say: all that is missing is the sound.”[2].
Having exhibited at the Salons of 1824 and 1827 in particular, Louis-Philippe commissioned him in July 1836 to produce a painting depicting the Battle of Castalla on 21 July 1815, which he presented at the 1838 Salon (Fig. 1). A triumphant victory for the French army, the battle took place during the Spanish War of Independence, in which the Empire, as was often the case, was pitted against the United Kingdom, which was then allied with Bourbon Spain and Portugal. Langlois captures the moment when the 24th Dragoon Regiment launches a surprise charge against the Spanish ranks, which are facing another French division.
Bodies litter the ground in the foreground; others are piled beneath the horses’ hooves and the wheels of the cannons; officers continue to issue orders; the dragoons’ sabres cleave through the crowd; blood glistens on the battlefield, dust rises above the mass; everything here conveys the violence of the moment, the chaotic and deafening atmosphere of the clash between the armies. In one of his reviews, Théophile Gautier refers to this perspective adopted by the painter: ‘One thing that Monsieur Langlois has rendered with the terrible sincerity permitted and demanded by such a vast canvas—which envelops the viewer like a natural horizon—is the aspect of butchery, carnage, slaughterhouse and carcass disposal that war represents.’[3]
Immersive in nature, the scene is reminiscent of the artist’s fascination with the new spectacles of illusion, of which the panorama is one of the most popular. Setting sail for the East in the 1830s, a journey from which he drew inspiration to create, in turn, these works conceived as 360° experiences.
[1] François ROBICHON, André ROUILLE, Jean-Charles Langlois, 1789–1870: The Spectacle of History, exhibition catalogue, Caen, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 9 July – 17 October 2005, cited on p. 19.
[2] Maxime Du Camp, *Souvenirs littéraires*, Paris, Hachette, 1882 (3rd edition: 1906), p. 357.
[3] Colonel Langlois, 1789–1870: A Painter of the Napoleonic Epic: Collection of the Langlois Museum, Caen, exhibition catalogue, Boulogne-Billancourt, Marmottan Library, 11 October 2000 – 24 February 2001, cited on p. 28., op. cit., cited on p. 28.
See original version (French)
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Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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