Bas-relief Of The Battle Of Aboukir For The Arc De Triomphe (emperor Napoleon Bonaparte)

Bernard-GabrielSEURRE (The Elder). 1795-1867.
Bas-relief project of the  Batlle of Aboukir for the Arc de Triomphe
Circa  1832-1833
Drawing in pencil and graphite, some highlights; mounted on largecardboard
15.5 x 36 cm (6 1/8 x 14 1/3in.) With frame 27,5 x 49,5 cm(10 2/3x 19 ½ in.)
Provenance 
French private collection 

Sketched project for one of the famous bas-reliefs of the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile in Paris, the Battle of Aboukir, adorning the cartouche of the east facade on the Champs-Élysées side, above The Apotheosis of Napoleon by Cortot. This preparatory work is unique, all the original drawings associated with the decorations of the monument being missing in the archives which only preserve the studies of the sculptor Rude and a sketch attributed to Allasseur (Thierry Collection at the Historical Library of the City of Paris). A brilliant sculptor, having won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome in 1818, Bernard Seurre (the elder) contributed to the decorative program of the Arc de Triomphe for three years between 1833 and 1836. As evidenced by several variants and pentimenti giving a glimpse of the long development of the work, Seurre certainly offers here one of the first thoughts of the bas-relief which was commissioned from him in August 1833. The work which illustrates one of the most important scenes of the Egyptian campaign, on July 25, 1799, will be presented at the Salon in 1836.

Bernard-Gabriel Seurre, a sculptor attached to the Napoleonic legend

Seurre the elder is one of the 22 sculptors attached to the decorations of the Arc de Triomphe. A former student of Cartellier, Bernard-Gabriel Seurre (1795-1867) entered the Académie desBeaux-arts in 1810. He won the First Grand Prix de Rome in 1818 with the bas-relief Cholonis imploring the grace of her husband Cleombrotus. Upon his return from Italy, he exhibited at the Salon in 1824 A bather (Trianon) and in 1827 three works including Sainte-Barbe (Sorbonne Church) and Sylvie lamenting the death of her deer. In 1832, he worked with his younger brother Charles-Emile Seurre, also a sculptor, on the statue of Napoleon to be erected on the top of the Vendôme column, and seems associated with the decoration of the Arc de Triomphe from 1833. He had notably to take care of two friezes representing the army of Italy, the famous bas-relief of the Battle of Aboukir and proposed a coronation project which was abandoned. In 1836, he presented a plaster cast of his bas-relief of the Battleof Aboukir at the Salon, a few months before the inauguration of the Arc inJuly, and received the Legion of Honor the following year. Seurre remains associated with several monuments of the City of Paris, notably the Fontaine Molière rue de Richelieu, a statue of La Fontaine for the Institute, the bust of Admiral Béhuchet at Versailles...