This large study is one of several Vincent executed depicting the Battle of the Pyramids, which took place on July 21, 1798 as part of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. The project was part of a larger commission, issued in 1800 by Lucien Bonaparte, minister of the interior, for six large canvases, each by a different artist, depicting a series of battles. Although the painting was never completed, one can see Vincent's conception of the scene in this energetic study where a roiling, chaotic mass of horses and Mamluk soldiers on the banks of the Nile provide a powerful visual contrast to the orderly rows of French soldiers beyond.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Battle of the Pyramids, July 21, 1798
Artist:François André Vincent (French, Paris 1746–1816 Paris)
Former Attribution:Formerly attributed to baron Antoine Jean Gros (French, Paris 1771–1835 Meudon)
Date:ca. 1800
Medium:Pen and black ink, brush and brown wash, heightened with white on beige washed paper; squared in graphite
Dimensions:15 3/4 x 29 1/2 in. (41.8 x 75.1 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1951
Object Number:51.122
Major General Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley (British)according to vendor.; Vendor: Tooth & Sons (British)& Sons Ltd.
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New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," June 13–September 11, 2011.
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours. "François-André Vincent," October 18, 2013–January 19, 2014.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints: Life at Court," May 1–July 30, 2018.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "In the Orbit of Jacques Louis David: Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints," January 20–May 31, 2022.
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Assistant Curator Allison Rudnick highlights the works from the Department of Drawings and Prints' remarkable collection that will be on rotating view in The Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Gallery.
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