BERNARD ÉDOUARD SWEBACH | EQUERRY WITH HORSE OF LOUIS XVIII OUTSIDE THE ROYAL STABLES

M. de Villers (according to an inscription on the reverse) 

Sale: Couturier & de Nicolay, Paris, June 19, 1992, lot 68, illustrated 

Bernard Édouard Swebach learned to paint from his father, Jacques-François-Joseph Swebach called Desfontaines (see lot 149). The elder Swebach was known for painting equestrian and military scenes, including important chapters from Napoleon’s military campaigns. Bernard Édouard was equally talented, entering the École des Beaux-Arts at the impressively young age of fourteen and painting the present lot at only nineteen. This work depicts an equerry of King Louis XVIII (reign 1815-1824) tending to one of the King’s horses near the Great Stables at Versailles.