President Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, place de la Concorde, December 2, 1851

Reviewing the mobile gendarmerie, acclaimed by the crowd, In the company of Prince Jérôme accompanied by his staff.

Oil on canvas, by Victor de JONQUIERES (active from 1838 to 1870)
Signed and dated "1865" lower right.
Dimensions: 1.60 x 2.30m.
With frame: 1.68 x 2.38 m.
Exhibitions: -Napoleon III and the Prince Imperial: Selections from the Collection of Christopher Forbes, The Grolier Club, New York, November 20, 1985-January 10, 1986. -Napoleon III : The Other Napoleon and His Empire, The Forbes Galleries, New York, December 2, 2002-April 10, 2003. -Napoleon & Eugenie: Opulence and Splendor of France's Second Empire, Nassau County Museum of Art, Glen Cove, New York, June 7-September 7, 2009, reproduced in color, p.34
Origins:
-Acquired by the Emperor Napoleon III by order of May 10, 1865 for 2,000 francs from the Encouragement budget.
-Returned to the Empress after the judgment of 1881. -
-Former collection of Mr. Firmin Rainbeaux.

History: We will quote the monitor of the arts of November 3, 1865 relating to the exhibition of fine arts applied to industry: “We have said a word about the painting by M. Victor de Jonquières, exhibited at Disdéri. The scene takes place in that of the Place de la Concorde which extends between the Obelisk and the gate of the Tuileries Garden. A horse procession, accompanied by an enthusiastic crowd, advances towards the spectator. The atmosphere is reminiscent of a December morning. Napoleon III is surrounded and followed by Prince Jérôme, Prince Murat, Marshal Exelmans, Count de Flahaut, General Roguet, Generals Daumas and de Bourjolly, Baron Vast Vineux, Colonel Fleury, Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Ney, Baron Béville, Marquis de Toulongeon, Count LEpic, Baron de Méneval, Baron Ducasse, Count de Nieuwerkerke, Commander Jolly de Fleury, etc. All these figures are very similar, provided that we go back fourteen years (note: we are in 1865). M. de Jonquières showed himself to be both a faithful historian and a talented artist, knowing how to group his characters and leaving no detail to chance. The horses especially are of a very true and very conscientious design.



Bibliography: -Le Moniteur des arts of November 3, 1865, page 1. -Catherine Granger, "The Emperor and the Arts, the civil list of Napoleon III", Ecole des Chartes, 2005, p.557. -Michael Forrest, Napoleon III Bronzes, The Antique Collector, January 1990, Vol. 61, No. 1, p. 43-49. -Christopher Forbes, Napoleon III: The Other Napoleon and His Empire, Antiques, December 2002, p. 83-91. -Armand Dayot, “The Second Empire – December 2, 1851 – September 4, 1870”, Ernest Flammarion, Paris, p.33. -Benjamin Genocchio, The Imperial French Style, The New York Times, June 19, 2009, reproduced in color. -Napoleon III, Le Magazine du Second Empire, No. 16, October-December 201