Jean-Baptist Isabey Watercolor, Napoleon Bonaparte with the Empress Marie-Louise of Austria and the

ISABEY, Jean-Baptiste (1769 - 1855) attributed to.
Napoleon Bonaparte with the Empress Marie-Louise of Austria and the King of Rome.
Graphite, watercolor accentuated by white.
Signed and dated 'Isabey 1813'.
6" x 8 3/4" visible; 16 3/4" x 18" framed.

During his long life Isabey was celebrated as an accomplished miniaturist and engraver, rivaling the accomplishments of the great David, and exhibiting just as profound an influence upon his contemporaries. His career as an artist was illustrious: during the reign of Louis XVI he held the positions of painter and draughtsman for His Majesty's cabinet; painter and draughtsman for ceremonies and foreign relations with specific responsibility for the coronation; organiser of public festivals and fêtes at the Tuileries; draughtsman of the Seal and of Titles; during Napoleon's rule he was first painter of the empress Josephine's chamber; drawing master to Josephine's children Hortense and Eugene; decorator for the imperial theatres; and drawing teacher to the empress Marie-Louise, in which role he succeeded Prud'hon. From 1809 he had a studio in the porcelain factory of Sèvres. For Louis XVIII he became 'dessinateur et ordonnateur des fêtes et spectacles de la Cour' (1823), and for Charles X, 'dessinateur du Cabinet' (1828). In 1825 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur. During the government of Louis-Philippe, he was appointed 'Deputy Curator of the Royal Museums' in 1837. In 1853, Napoleon III made him Commander of the Légion d'honneur.