Bellangé’s principal claim to fame was as a painter of battle scenes, the majority of them set in the Napoleonic era. In 1816, while studying at Gros’ studio, he met Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet, and like him began to produce litographs. Bellangé’s series in this medium included military uniforms, humorous scenes of the Grande Armée, raw recruits and worn-out veterans: he also provided illustration for Béranger’s Songs. He made his debut at the Salon in 1822, where in later years he was awarded several medals. In 184 he was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, after having scored a major triumph at the salon with The Return from Elba (Amiens, Musée Picardie). E was elevated to the rank of Officier in 1861. He carried out major commissions for Louis-Philippe in the Galerie Historique at Versailles, and was curator of the Musée de Rouen from 1837 to 1854.
Although slightly smaller than the other drawings by Bellangé in Amsterdams Historisch Museum, this sheet displays the same bold use of color and eye for detail. The subject reflects the prevailing nostalgia for the Napoleonic era. Like two other watercolors the scene is set in that period, but this time with the emperor himself as the main character.
It seems that Bellangé made a similar watercolor in 1840, one year prior to this sheet. It is listed in the 1880 oeuvre catalogue as Napoleon à cheval saluant des blesses (present location unknown). The catalogue makes no mention of the Fodor drawing, which may have been acquired at the Wallace Sale in 1857. Bellangé evidently produced several variations on the theme of a mounted Napoleon riding across a battlefield from left to right. Two such watercolors, of 186 and 1837, are now in the Wallace Collection in London. The first shows the emperor at Waterloo, while in the second he is riding on a white charger at the head of his army.
There are two possible interpretations of this heroic scene. Napoleon may be doffing his hat as a mark of respect to one of his loyal subjects wounded in battle, but it could also be a variant of the theme of the dying soldier being granted a final vision of the great marshal, his lord and master.
( Wiepke Loos)
