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Cranston Fine Arts  Military Art and Artists More Military Artists H to L  Lejeune, Louis |
| Louis Lejeune |
Born 1776 at Versaille and died 1848, Louis Lajeune was not only French general during the time of Napoloen but a great painter,Lejeune was aide de camp to General Berthier and was present at many of the battles fought by Napoleon during the Napoloenic wars. It was these major battles that Louis Lajeune painted large panoramic battle paintings. Louis rancois Lejeune would produce a numbe rof Sketches and pencil studies at the time on the battle field. When Lejeune battlecene paintings were exhibited at the Egyptian Hall in London, a rail had to be put up to protect them from the eager crowds of sightseers. Among his chief works are Battle of Marengo. Battle of Aboukir, Battle of the Pyramids, Battle of Moscow, "The Entry of Charles X. into Paris, 6 June 1825 ,Episode of the of the Prussian War, October 1807" and the Passage of the Rhine in 1795. Lejeune took part in the German campaign of 1806 duirng this campaign Lejeune went to Munich andwent to Senefelder who was the inventor of Lithography, Lejeune produced a drawing of a Cossack whihc Senefelder prodcued 100 lithographs whihc Lejeune took to Napoleon, It was Lejeune who would play the major role in bringing Lithography to France. and many of his battle paintings would be engraved by Coiny and Bovinet over the coming years. These Lithographs are highly sought Many of these superb battlepaintings have been prodcued ove rthe past 25 years by Cranstn Fine Arts and are available as shown below. |
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| Text for the above items : |
Battle of Mount Thabor, 16th April 1799 by Louis Lejeune. No text for this item |
Battle of Marengo by Louis Lejeune. Panoramic view of the battle fought between the French and the Austrian armies on 14th June 1800. |
Battle of the Pyramids 21st July 1798 by Louis Lejeune. Napoleon with an army of 36,000 seized Malta on the 10th of June 1798 form the Knights of St John then sailed on to land west of Alexandria on July 1st. They seized Alexandria form the Mameluke ruler Ibrahim who fled into Syria. But the Mameluke military Commander Murad Bey was determined to stop Napoleon entering Cairo, so blocked the French advance at Embabeh on the left bank of the Nile near the pyramids. Under his command he had 40,000 troops but only 6,000 of these were the fierce fighting force of Mamelukes. On July 21st napoleon moved onto the Egyptian positions and Murad launched an all out attack with his cavalry. But the 6,000 Mamelukes were no match for the French infantry and artillery which fired volley after volley, devastating the Mamelukes. When the charge had failed the disorganized Egyptian infantry fled. With only 300 casualties, Napoleon marched into Cairo. |
Battle of Aboukir Bay 25th July 1798 by Louis Lejeune. When Nelson shattered the French fleet in the Bay of Aboukir he foresaw, as his despatches showed, that the army of Bonaparte was land-locked. Bonaparte, having made an unsuccessful attempt, after traversing the Palestine Desert, to effect the siege of Acre, defended by Sir Sidney Smith, was obliged to anticipate the retreat from Moscow, and wearily trudge back to Egypt. Next his ambitious stake for Empire recalled him to France, and he left Egypt hurriedly and the army of occupation to its fate. Eventually the British Government, alive to the fruits of Nelsons victory, despatched Sir Ralph Abercromby to dislodge the imprisoned French battalions and to capture the covetable land of Egypt. In March 1801, Abercromby with Smith of Acre, and Moore, afterwards of Corunna, was prepared to disembark on the shore affronting the castle of Aboukir.The General had no maps, no clues of military topography. Everything depended on his imperturbable coolness, and on that intrepid and resourceful spirit and action of the men in his command. In the early morning every man for the landing was in his position in his boat. In the fury of the cannonade, three boats were sunk, but a fair number out of the 180 men involved were saved. The captain of this enterprise of seamanship was Alexander Cochrane, of the famous family of Dundonald. Eventually the troops plunged through the surf, with bayonets fixed and flags flying, and dashed up the sandhills. The 42nd Highlanders, rapidly clambering up, raced up to the French defenders, and closed with bayonet and butt-end. In the meantime the French cavalry had courageous ridden into the sea and cut down many of the close packed troops in boats. Again, too, squadrons charged into the ranks of the alert invaders, but they were repulsed with heavy casualties. Nothing could stop the fearless headway of the dauntless infantry, seamen and marines. General Moore was the life and soul of this wondrous attack, which caused him the loss of nearly 700 killed and wounded. The affair was almost as acrobatic as that of Quebec, and the Frenchmen had a quick awakening from their experiences of native troops. In a few hours after the original order for landing, the scattered enemy were in headlong retreat on the road to Alexandria, upon which the English eagerly prepared to advance. |
Passage du Rhine Dusseldorf, le 6th September 1795, by Louis Lejeune. No text for this item |
Battle of Moscow by Louis Lejeune. No text for this item |
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