Nicolas-Antoine Taunay (Paris 1755-1830)

The present work is a reduced version of a painting executed by Taunay circa 1808 (64 x 81 cm., location unknown; C. Lebrun Jouve op. cit., no. P.557). Lebrun Jouve suggests that this replica could have been painted as a contemporaneous modello of the larger version, and finished upon Taunay's return from Brazil after 1821, explaining the inconsistency in date between the two versions. She suggests that it is also possible that it could have been painted for the duc d'Angoulême in honor of his triumph in Spain 1814, and completed in 1823.