Eugène Louis Lami, (French, 1800-1890)

Joachim Murat and Jean Lannes at the Battle of Wertingen, 1840

Joachim Murat and Jean Lannes at the Battle of Wertingen, 1840
signed and dated 'Eug Lami 1840' (lower centre)
oil on canvas
31 x 50cm

Provenance:
Anon. sale, Coutau-Begarie, Paris, 17 October, 2012, lot 224.
Private collection, France, acquired from the above.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

The battle of Wertingen of 8 October 1805, in which the French decisively defeated an Austrian army under Lieutenant-Field Marshal Franz-Xaver von Auffenberg, was a key event in the war of the Third Coalition. The campaign ended on the 2nd December with the victory of Austerlitz when Napoleon decisively defeated the combined Austrian and Russian armies, making him the master of central Europe as well as Italy.

Eugène Lami studied under Baron Gros and learned watercolour techniques from the British artist Bonnington, working along with Horace Vernet on a series of studies of the French cavalry where he acquired his considerable skills as a horse painter. He had a distinguished career as a portraitist, history painter and also produced charming contemporary interior scenes of elegant society. Lami was a favourite of Louis-Philippe and a natural choice to join the king's project to create a museum of French history in the palace of Versailles as well as portray important state events such as the visits of Queen Victoria to both Louis-Philippe and Napoleon III. Lami's paintings for Versailles are not on the same scale as the paintings in the Hall of Battles and were based on contemporary accounts – the final version of the battle of Wertingen was never completed and is known today only from the present lot.