Jean-Marie-Raphael-Leopold Massard (French 1812-1889) Portrait of Alexandre François Marie

Jean-Marie-Raphael-Leopold Massard (French 1812-1889)

Portrait of Alexandre François Marie, Vicomte de Beauharnais (1760-1794)

Pencil

34.1 x 25.4cm; 13½ x 10in

Provenance:

Ian Woodner (1903-1990);

Dian and Andrea Woodner; their sale, London, Christie's, Old Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, 2 July 1991, lot 170

After the 1834 portrait by Georges Rouget (1783-1869) in the Palace of Versailles. The Vicomte de Beauharnais was a prominent political and military figure during the French revolution. He served as deputy of the noblesse in the Estates-General, president of the National Constituent Assembly and became General-in-Chief of the Army of the Rhine in 1793. He was arrested and executed during the Reign of Terror, and was survived by his wife Joséphine, who would later marry Napoleon Bonaparte, and become Empress.