Henri de la Rochejaquelin

portrait

The memorial portrait of Henri de la Rochejaquelin, painted in 1817 by Guérin as one of a series of anti-republican heroes commissioned by Louis XVIII for the chateau of Saint-Cloud. This handsome general astride a barricade, with the white Bourbon flag behind him and the order of the Sacred Heart pinned on his breast, was plucked from the early history of royalist resistance as a deliberate counter to the republican icons of David and Gros.

Loading map…

About the Artist

Pierre-Narcisse Guérin

1774 – 1833

One of the most successful French painters of his period. He won the Prix de Rome in 1797, and his later successes included becoming director of the French Academy in Rome in 1822 and being created a baron in 1829. His style was derived mainly from David, but his scenes from classical history and mythology are less severe and more stagey. As the teacher of Géricault and Delacroix amongst others, he was an important figure in the transition from Neoclassicism to Romanticism . He laid particular emphasis on the painted sketch and as a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts, he was instrumental in establishing a sketch competition as a preliminary to the Prix de Rome.

View all works →