EMPEROR NAPOLEON III LEADING HIS TROOPS IN A MOCK BATTLE

IN DECEMBER 1852 LOUIS-NAPOLEON BONAPARTE TOOK THE IMPERIAL TITLE AND THUS INAUGURATED THE SECOND EMPIRE. HE PROMISED FRANCE AN EQUILIBRIUM WHICH HAD BEEN ABSENT IN THE PRECEDING YEARS OF FOMENT, AND THE CACHET OF HIS LINEAGE - EMPEROR NAPOLEON I WAS HIS UNCLE - BUOYED HIS POPULAR SUPPORT, PARTICULARLY IN THE FRENCH PROVINCES. IN ALLYING WITH BRITAIN OVER THE CRIMEA, NAPOLEON SECURED FOR FRANCE CONSIDERABLE EUROPEAN INFLUENCE IN THE WAKE OF THE PARIS PEACE CONGRESS OF 1856.

IN THE PRESENT WORK GUYS DEPICTS NAPOLEON III LEADING HIS TROOPS IN A MOCK BATTLE, POSSIBLY AS SOME FORM OF CELEBRATION. HE APPEARS TO BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN BRITISH OFFICER OF THE LIFE GUARDS WEARING A SILVER BREAST-PLATE, A HELMET WITH A HORSEHAIR PLUME AND EPAULETTES, HELPFULLY PROVIDING A TERMINUS POST QUEM FOR THE WORK AS THE LIFE GUARDS ABANDONED EPAULETTES AFTER 1855. ALSO IN HIS ENTOURAGE, AT THE FAR RIGHT OF THE PICTURE, IS ANOTHER BRITISH OFFICER, IN THIS INSTANCE WEARING A RED TUNIC OF THE GENERAL STAFF.