Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria

Jacques-François-Joseph SWEBACH
called SWEBACH-DESFONTAINES
French 1769–1823
The Battle of Marengo
La Bataille de Marengo
1801
oil on wood
Fondation Napoléon, Paris
Donation Lapeyre inv. 764
Dating from 1801, this Battle of Marengo
is less an illustration of that victory than an
evocation of the logistics surrounding the
combat. It shows the supreme talent of
Swebach-Desfontaines, who was fascinated
by seventeenth-century Dutch painting.
The battle takes place in the distance, but it
is the artillery and catering convoy, moving
slowly towards the site of the battle,
that the artist has chosen to focus upon.
First Consul Bonaparte can be seen on
a rearing horse to the right.
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