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Lot Essay
ANTOINE-CHARLES-HORACE VERNET, CALLED CARLE, WAS THE SON OF THE CELEBRATED ARTIST JOSEPH VERNET. VERNET FILS DISPLAYED EARLY TALENTS FOR PAINTING AND DRAWING AND, AFTER A SHORT STAY IN ROME, DEDICATED HIMSELF TO BECOMING AN ARTIST. HE STUDIED IN PARIS UNDER JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID AND BEGAN HIS CAREER BY PAINTING HISTORICAL SUBJECTS. HIS TALENT, HOWEVER, CAME TO THE FORE DURING THE TUMULTUOUS DIRECTOIRE PERIOD, WHEN THE EXTRAORDINARY POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SITUATION PROVIDED HIS SATIRICAL WIT WITH A WEALTH OF MATERIAL. IT WAS DURING THE SUBSEQUENT CONSULAT PERIOD THAT VERNET STARTED TO PAINT BATTLE SCENES, WHERE HIS ABILITY TO ORCHESTRATE LARGE SCALE COMPOSITIONS RESULTED IN MANY VIGOROUS AND LEGIBLE CANVASES. LATER, DURING THE RESTORATION, VERNET BEGAN TO PAINT HUNTING SCENES SET IN PICTURESQUE AND TRANQUIL LANDSCAPES. ONE OF HIS MAJOR PATRONS AT THAT TIME WAS THE DUC D'ORLéANS, WITH WHOM VERNET OFTEN HUNTED.
CARLE VERNET WAS AN ACCOMPLISHED RIDER AND HAD A PASSION FOR HORSES. HE WAS ESPECIALLY KEEN ON THOROUGHBRED RACE-HORSES AND IN THE PRESENT WORK ONE CAN SEE THE CAREFUL DETAIL WITH WHICH HE PORTRAYS THE GRACE AND POWER OF THE MAMELOUK'S STEED.
THE WORD MAMELOUK ORIGINALLY DERIVES FROM THE ARABIC MAMLUK, MEANING A SLAVE. THE NAME ONCE REFERRED TO A DYNASTY OF EGYPTIAN SULTANS, ORIGINALLY A BODYGUARD OF TURKISH SLAVES, WHO SEIZED POWER AROUND 1250 FROM THE SUCCESSORS OF SALADIN. LATER THE TERM CAME TO MEAN A SOLDIER IN THE TURKISH-EGYPTIAN MILITARY, THE MAIN ENEMY OF FRANCE DURING ITS ORIENTAL CAMPAIGN. BONAPARTE USED MAMELOUKS IN HIS ARMY, AND PARTICULARLY IN HIS BODYGUARD, WHERE THEY GAINED A FIERCE REPUTATION ON THE BATTLEFIELDS OF EUROPE. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY THERE AROSE A VOGUE FOR PORTRAYING MAMELOUKS IN ART AND LITERATURE, AND BOTH CARLE AND HIS SON HORACE PAINTED THEM IN ALL THEIR EXOTIC FINERY. THE LAST OF THE MAMELOUKS WERE WIPED OUT IN CAIRO IN 1811 BY THE FORCES OF MEHEMET ALI WHO THUS BECAME THE UNDISPUTED RULER OF EGYPT.
VERNET ALSO EXECUTED ANOTHER, SMALLER VERSION OF THE PRESENT WORK WHICH WAS REPRODUCED IN AQUATINT BY DEBUCOURT (SEE A. DAYOT, CARLE VERNET, éTUDE SUR L'ARTISTE SUIVIE D'UN CATALOGUE DE L'OEUVRE GRAVé ET LITHOGRAPHIé, ET DU CATALOGUE DE L'EXPOSITION RETROSPECTIVE DE 1925, PARIS, 1925, NO. 96B, ILLUSTRATED P. 125).
CARLE VERNET WAS AN ACCOMPLISHED RIDER AND HAD A PASSION FOR HORSES. HE WAS ESPECIALLY KEEN ON THOROUGHBRED RACE-HORSES AND IN THE PRESENT WORK ONE CAN SEE THE CAREFUL DETAIL WITH WHICH HE PORTRAYS THE GRACE AND POWER OF THE MAMELOUK'S STEED.
THE WORD MAMELOUK ORIGINALLY DERIVES FROM THE ARABIC MAMLUK, MEANING A SLAVE. THE NAME ONCE REFERRED TO A DYNASTY OF EGYPTIAN SULTANS, ORIGINALLY A BODYGUARD OF TURKISH SLAVES, WHO SEIZED POWER AROUND 1250 FROM THE SUCCESSORS OF SALADIN. LATER THE TERM CAME TO MEAN A SOLDIER IN THE TURKISH-EGYPTIAN MILITARY, THE MAIN ENEMY OF FRANCE DURING ITS ORIENTAL CAMPAIGN. BONAPARTE USED MAMELOUKS IN HIS ARMY, AND PARTICULARLY IN HIS BODYGUARD, WHERE THEY GAINED A FIERCE REPUTATION ON THE BATTLEFIELDS OF EUROPE. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY THERE AROSE A VOGUE FOR PORTRAYING MAMELOUKS IN ART AND LITERATURE, AND BOTH CARLE AND HIS SON HORACE PAINTED THEM IN ALL THEIR EXOTIC FINERY. THE LAST OF THE MAMELOUKS WERE WIPED OUT IN CAIRO IN 1811 BY THE FORCES OF MEHEMET ALI WHO THUS BECAME THE UNDISPUTED RULER OF EGYPT.
VERNET ALSO EXECUTED ANOTHER, SMALLER VERSION OF THE PRESENT WORK WHICH WAS REPRODUCED IN AQUATINT BY DEBUCOURT (SEE A. DAYOT, CARLE VERNET, éTUDE SUR L'ARTISTE SUIVIE D'UN CATALOGUE DE L'OEUVRE GRAVé ET LITHOGRAPHIé, ET DU CATALOGUE DE L'EXPOSITION RETROSPECTIVE DE 1925, PARIS, 1925, NO. 96B, ILLUSTRATED P. 125).