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.
Bellangé’s 1200 drawings and watercolors of military subjects are more closely allied to his caricature prints than to his serious history pieces. Three of the five watercolors in the Amsterdam Historical Museum are typical specimen of this oeuvre. The present sheet, which bears the earliest date of the three, was described in the 1863 catalogue of the Fodor collection as “Snipers in a sunken lane.”
The gentle sarcasm with which he has observed this group of Napoleonic soldiers is one of Bellangé’s most distinctive hallmarks. This particular subject is not found in any other painting or print by the artist. There is no record of how Fodor acquired this and the following four sheets. Bellangé only began sending work to the dutch exhibitions of Works by Living Masters after Fodor’s death, but he was certainly represented in at least two private collections. ( Wiepke Loos)
