Two Soldiers on Horseback 

Horace Vernet created this oil painting depicting two soldiers on horseback sometime in the first half of the 19th century. Vernet came from a family of painters and he specialized in military subjects. This image represents a specific kind of militarism that came about as a result of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire. It reflects the shift away from the formalism of the old Royal Academy in France, and towards a populist Romanticism that glorified military heroes and intense action. The image participates in a cult of the military hero that emerged after Napoleon's rise to power, and that continued even after the restoration of the French monarchy. Historical research into the French military archives and popular illustrated magazines of the time can help us understand the nature and effects of the new kind of military spectacle in French society and culture. These sources also reveal how official institutions shaped the production and reception of art, defining the public role of art and the politics of imagery.