Louis-Léopold Boilly

Paris, Galerie Perrin, De Lebrun à Rodin, 1991, no. 22

This is a preparatory study for the figure of a young student of the Imperial Lycée, who is sitting on the grass in a painting of Napoleon and Marie-Louise in a pleasure boat on the Etang des Carpes at Fontainebleau, 1810, now in the Musée Marmottan, Paris (inv. 1062).  The painting was commissioned by Louis Nicolas Davout, one of Napoleon's maréchals, perhaps in thanks for a generous gift of cash from the Emperor.  The charming painting represents a unique collaboration between Boilly, who did the figures, and Jean-Joseph Bidault (1758-1846) who did the landscape.  In the painting, the young man's hat lies beside him on the ground, and a senior officer is grasping his outstretched hand, pulling him up, possibly calling him to attention to salute the Emperor.