Garde Municipale à Cheval

In the early 1830s, Alexandre-Jean Dubois-Drahonet was commissioned by King William IV of England to create a series of 100 paintings illustrating recent changes to the uniforms and weapons on the British Army. King Louis-Philippe of France followed, commissioning a series of French military paintings from the artist. The French series may have been a part of the King's project to establish a museum at Versailles.

Well known in France as a society portrait painter in the courts of Kings Charles X and Louis-Philippe, in this series Dubois-Drahonet takes great care to depict the details of the uniforms and weaponry. The present lot depicts a member of the Municipal Guard cavalry. Please see the preceding lot for another example. 91 works from the British series are in the collection of the British royal family housed at Windsor Castle and more than a dozen from the French series are in the collection of the Musée de la Marine in Paris. After Dubois-Drahonet's death, the French series was completed by Paul Lecomte.