After Horace Vernet

After Horace Vernet
Napoleon Bidding Fairwell to the Imperial Guard at Fontainbleau, April 20, 1814
Oil on canvas clock painting
Sight 31 1/4 x 38 3/4 inches

This piece is an interesting example of a "clock painting," a type of decorative work that became popular in Europe in the 1860s. It combines a painting and a clock, with the clock's movement attached to the back, while the dial appears through an aperture in the canvas. The subject here, after an original by Horace Vernet now at the Chateau of Versailles, shows Napoleon saying farewell to his "Old Guard" as he prepares to go into his first exile on Elba. Vernet's painting became immensely popular during the Second Empire (1852-1870), and was often copied or reproduced in engravings.

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