Overall: 37cm (14.5in) x 30cm (12in)
Oil on canvas. Full length quayside study of a Napoleonic marine. Signed Carré lower left and initialled lower right ‘AC ’33’. Contained in gilt frame.
In the wake of the Battle of Trafalgar Napoleon set about rebuilding the French navy and on 1 April 1808 decreed his sea soldiers were to be organised as Equipages de Haut-Bord, or crews of ships of the line. The subject of the present study with his red facings and orange piping is perhaps a marine of the 13th Battalion stationed aboard the Pallas at Rochefort. However it is likely the 13th Battalion ever broke the blockade of the hated Anglais, and more certainly were despatched to the east as infantry to fight forces of the Sixth Coalition.