Antoine-Jean Gros, called Baron Gros

Anonymous sale, Claude Aguttes, Neuilly-sur-Seine, 11 June 2012, lot 54.

Napoléon, l'Empereur sous la verrière du Grand Palais : La collection Pierre-Jean Chalençon, cat. exh. Grand Palais, Paris 2018, pp. 82-83;

P.-J. Chalençon, Napoléon. La collection, Paris 2019, pp. 126-127.

This fine portrait depicts Napoleon I’s youngest brother, Jérôme Bonaparte (1784–1860). He is dressed in the white satin attire of a Prince of France, embroidered with gold, and a black velvet hat decorated with white feathers. On his breast, he wears the great collar of the Order of the Légion d’Honneur as well as the Grand Eagle plaque of the same Order.

This is a bust-length version of the Equestrian Portrait of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia by Gros, the first official portrait commissioned by the King shortly after his accession to the throne in 1807, with the aim of affirming his power by means of the dissemination of portraits throughout his kingdom. Exhibited at the Salon of 1808, it is now in the Musée National du Château de Versailles. Several replicas were made, both full- and bust-length. The known full-length versions include one produced for King Frederick I of Württemberg, Jérôme’s father-in-law (Museumlandschaft Hessen Kassel). A bust-length copy attributed to Gros, slightly larger than the present version, is on loan to the museum in Ajaccio.

Close to the equestrian composition despite a few variations to the uniform, the present painting is in our opinion an autograph replica rather than a preparatory sketch. The pictorial quality highlighting the opulence of the apparel and the plumes of feathers is typical of Gros, as are the treatment of the face and the rich colour.

Jérôme Bonaparte initially entered the navy and took part in several naval battles, where he demonstrated exceptional courage, before joining the army. He remained loyal to his brother and followed him on the final campaigns in Russia and France, as well as fighting at Waterloo. Napoleon showered him with honours and placed him at the head of the kingdom of Westphalia, where he reigned between 1807 and 1813. He returned to France after the Prussians occupied the kingdom, but Napoleon’s fall in 1814 forced him to take refuge with his father-in-law. The election of his nephew Louis-Napoleon (the future Napoleon III) to the presidency of the Second Republic in 1848 brought him back to France. He would go on to fill several official positions including president of the Senate from 1852.