Carle Vernet

CARLE VERNET (Bordeaux, 1758-Paris, 1836).
"Portrait of a young military man".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 66,5 x 53,5 cm; 81,5 x 68,5 cm (frame).

This portrait of a young military man embodies with mastery the technical virtuosity and compositional elegance characteristic of Carle Vernet, who specialized in equestrian themes and military portraiture. The bust has been rendered with almost miniaturist precision. The haughty bearing and the subtle nuances of the facial expression convey gallantry and nobility. It is an almost adolescent countenance, with an incipient mustache and flaming cheeks whose blush contrasts with the alabastrine complexion. He directs his blue eyes towards an undefined point outside the painting, which gives the scene an atmosphere of introspection and expectation.

The light, wisely directed, models the face with softness, emphasizing the smoothness of the skin and the moist glow of the eyes, achieving a sense of almost theatrical immediacy. The uniform is rich in detail: the high collar, adorned with embroidery and scarlet piping, as well as the golden epaulettes, reveal the character's rank, possibly a young officer of some elite guard. The dark and neutral background is typical of the academic portraiture of the first third of the 19th century and allows the figure to emerge with all its expressive force, without any distraction.

Carle Vernet, heir to an illustrious dynasty of painters, stands out for his ability to combine academic rigor with a romantic sensibility.

Antoine-Charles-Joseph Vernet, better known as Carle Vernet, studied with his father, the painter Claude Joseph Vernet, and with Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié. He won the Prix de Rome and, between 1782 and 1783, he was a scholar at the Mancini Palace. In 1789, thanks to his work Triumph of Paul Émile, he was attached to the Royal Academy in Paris, where he exhibited regularly. His first specialties were paintings of hunting, horses and equestrian portraits: The Duke of Orleans (1788, Condé Museum, Chantilly), The Duke of Chartres (1788, Historical Society, New York). During the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte he painted great battle paintings, such as The Battle of Marengo and Morning at Austerlitz (1808), or the Bombardment of Madrid and the Taking of Pamplona (1824), all at the Palace of Versailles. After the Bourbon Restoration he was painter to Louis XVIII,[2] for whom he painted mainly hunting and racing pictures: Race of the barbels (1826, Musée d'Avignon), Fallow deer hunting on St. Hubert's Day, in 1818, in the woods of Meudon (1827, Musée du Louvre, Paris). His son Horace Vernet was also a painter. Among his pupils was Théodore Géricault. He was a member of the Academy of Fine Arts and a knight of the Legion of Honor.