Étienne Bouhot (Bard-les-Époisses 1780-1862 Semur-en-Auxois)

This canvas was formerly in the collection of the preeminent art historian, Sturla Gudlaugsson. Director of the Netherlands Institute for Art History and the Mauritshuis in The Hague, Gudlaugsson was an internationally recognized authority on Dutch 17th-century painting and the author of the award-winning catalogue raisonné on Gerard ter Borch.

In 1814, European forces allied against Napoleonic France and marched triumphantly into Paris, formally ending a decade of French domination on the Continent. The soldiers in the foreground of this picture are Scottish troops, which were stationed in Paris in 1814-1815.