(1785–1844) Napoleon in the Night After the Battle of Ebelsberg, 3/4 May 1809, oil on canvas, 76 x 60 cm, framed, (W)

Antoni Jan Blank studied in Warsaw from 1800-1809 under the miniature painter Józef Kosinski, and from 1809 onwards with Joseph Grassi in Dresden. From 1815 onwards he was permanently based in Warsaw. Blank was a professor of painting at the department of fine arts at the University of Warsaw from 1819 and, together with Antoni Brodowski and Zygmunt Vogel, headed the department until the university was shut down after the uprising in November 1830. After his dismissal Blank ran an unofficial painting school at his studio, carrying out numerous commissions together with his pupils. These included portraits of decorated dignitaries, paintings for churches in Warsaw and Congress Poland, as well as motifs taken from ancient mythology, book illustrations and painting restorations. (Cf. K. G. Saur, Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon, Vol. 11, Munich-Leipzig 1995, p. 421).

This painting is a very rare and important document from the period of the First Empire. The night-time scene shown here takes place during the period between the second conquest of Vienna, by Napoleon’s Grand Armee, and the Battle of Wagram. We see the French ruler depicted as the Commander in Chief of the battle, as was usual at that time, and in a slightly raised position. He wears his favourite uniform, that of an officer of the 1e Regiment de Grenadiers-à-Pied de la Garde Impériale with the epaulettes of a Colonel of the Guard. He bears two insignia: the Breast Star and the Grand Eagle Cross of the Légion d’Honneur. Napoleon is portrayed standing next to the ruins of an old wall. On it lies a pile of documents, an inkpot with two quills and an envelope, recently opened and with a letter bearing Napoleon’s signature. A map of northern Europe is also visible. Mamluk Roustam Raza stands behind the ruins to Napoleon’s right, holding the bridle of his master’s white horse. The long city wall on the horizon, in front of the mountain ridge, is that of Vienna (we see the dome of the Belvedere and St. Stephen’s Cathedral).