Hippolyte Lecomte (1781-1857) Colonel Of Russian Cuirassiers

Hippolyte LECOMTE
(Puiseaux, 1781 – Paris, 1857)
Colonel of Russian cuirassiers
Oil on canvas
H. 33 cm; W. 24 cm
Signed and dated at the bottom towards the center 1817

Exhibition: Salon du Louvre of 1817, under number 504 of the booklet

Provenance: Philippe Quéval collection

Often reduced to a painter of battles and military subjects, Hippolyte Lecomte, described as an “excellent master” by Paul Marmottan, nevertheless worked in many registers. Troubadour style, genre scenes in the spirit of Boilly, drawings of costumes for the Opera and the Italian Theater between 1823 and 1830, and landscape. It was Pierre-Antoine Mongin who introduced him to this last genre, after initial training with Regnault. Born in Loiret, Lecomte exhibited at the Salon almost continuously from 1804 to 1847, obtaining a first class medal in 1808, and regularly good reviews. Thus, in Le Journal de Paris of July 23, 1817, he was distinguished as a landscaper, alongside Langlacé, Bouhot and Regnier: "...among the landscapers who were less well known... his color is perhaps a little raw; his foliage lacks lightness; but his style is frank and precise; and he renders well the general effect of a site". At the Salon of 1824: "Always wit and a piquant precision"; the nevertheless not very indulgent Auguste Jal wrote: "M. Hippolyte Lecomte deserves this year the praise of all the friends of the Arts". Lecomte was one of the first major lithographers in the 1810s. He notably produced several plates for the Voyage dans le Levant by the Count of Forbin, published in 1819, and, in 1820, all 380 colored lithographs for the Costumes civils et militaires de la Monarchie française de 1200 à 1820. He also had a brief collaboration with Baron Taylor for plates for the Voyages Pittoresques. Always close to the various powers, he built up a prestigious clientele, which included Joséphine, the Duchess of Berry and the Bourbons under the Restoration, Louis-Philippe, etc. His works are exhibited at Versailles (around thirty large canvases for the historical museum), Trianon, Saint-Cloud, Compiègne, Fontainebleau. In December 1807, Lecomte married Camille (1788-1858), the daughter of Carle Vernet, and thus became the brother-in-law of Horace Vernet, with whom he worked regularly. One of his sons, Emile Lecomte-Vernet, would become a famous orientalist painter. As for his best-known student, he was Jean-Jacques Grandville (1803-1847), who would succeed in caricature and illustration. Our small painting exhibited at the Salon of 1817, presented in its rich and important original frame, offers a fairly rare representation of the Russian heavy cavalry. The outfit corresponds to that of 1812-1814: high helmets in black pumpkin leather with visors at the front (with a brass border) and at the back, black steel breastplates. The officer at the head of his men, perfectly lit, stands out against a twilight sky with dark clouds, smoky from artillery fire and the movement of the troops. We find the dramatic atmosphere and energy of Géricault's paintings (the Wounded Cuirassier and the Officer of Horse Chasseurs Charging) presented at the Salons of 1812 and 1814, without obviously having the romantic power. The horse thus owes more to Carle Vernet (who also published in 1812 the collection La Grande Armée de 1812), the artist's father-in-law, with a brilliant but much less fiery execution.