Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, better known as Carle Vernet (14 August 175827 November 1836), was a French painter, the youngest child of

Claude Joseph Vernet Claude-Joseph Vernet (14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, was also a painter. Life and work Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Vernet ...

and the father of

Horace Vernet Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (30 June 178917 January 1863), more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects. Biography Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famous painter, who w ...

Biography

Vernet was born in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

. At the age of five, he showed an extraordinary passion for drawing horses, but went through the regular academical course as a pupil of his father and of Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié. Strangely, after winning the ''

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

'' (1782), he seemed to lose interest in the occupation, and his father had to recall him from Rome to prevent his entering a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

. In his "Triumph of Aemilius Paulus", Vernet broke with tradition and drew the horse with the forms he had learnt from nature in stables and riding schools. His hunting pieces, races, landscapes, and work as a lithographer were also very popular. Carle's sister was executed by the

guillotine A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at t ...

during the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

. After this, he gave up art. Le four à plâtre, à Montmartre - Carle Vernet - Chaalis

When he again began to produce under the French Directory (1795–1799), his style had changed radically. He started drawing in minute detail battles and campaigns to glorify Napoleon. His drawings of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's Italian campaign won acclaim as did the ''

Battle of Marengo The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Near the end of the day, the French overcame General Mich ...

'', and for his ''Morning of Austerlitz'' Napoleon awarded him the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, and

Louis XVIII of France Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

awarded him the

Order of Saint Michael , status = Abolished by decree of Louis XVI on 20 June 1790Reestablished by Louis XVIII on 16 November 1816Abolished in 1830 after the July RevolutionRecognised as a dynastic order of chivalry by the ICOC , founder = Louis XI of France , h ...

. Afterwards he excelled in hunting scenes and depictions of horses. In addition to being a painter and lithographer, Carle Vernet was an avid horseman. Just days before his death at the age of seventy-eight, he was seen racing as if he were a sprightly young man. He died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Literary references

In Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "

The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as ''The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes''. The story was originally published in ...

", fictional detective Sherlock Holmes claims that his grandmother is the French artist, Vernet's sister, without stating whether this is

, Carle Vernet, or

. In

Maria Wirtemberska Princess Maria Czartoryska (formerly Duchess Louis of Württemberg; 15 March 1768, Warsaw – 21 October 1854, Paris), was a Polish noble, writer, musician and philanthropist. Life Maria Anna was a daughter of Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartor ...

's novel ''Malvina, or the Heart's Intuition'' (1816; English translation 2001, by Ursula Phillips), it is said that a view that is being described merits the talent of Vernet, who as the writer explains in her own footnote was a sea painter.

Selected works

File:Carle Vernet - Arrival of Emigres with the Duchess of Berry on the French Coast - WGA24718.jpg, Arrival of Emigres on the French Coast with the

Duchess of Berry Duke of Berry (french: Duc de Berry) or Duchess of Berry (french: Duchesse de Berry) was a title in the Peerage of France. The Duchy of Berry, centred on Bourges, was originally created as an appanage for junior members of the French royal fami ...

Carle Vernet - A Mameluk Leading His Horse - WGA24720.jpg, A

Mameluke Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') i ...

Leading His Horse File:Napoleon in Battle of Moskowa by Vernet.jpg, Napoleon at the Battle of Borodino File:charles-vernet-top-hat.jpg,

Un Incroyable The Incroyables (, "incredibles") and their female counterparts, the Merveilleuses (, "marvelous women"), were members of a fashionable aristocratic subculture in Paris during the French Directory (1795–1799). Whether as catharsis or in a need ...

, two French dandies, one bearing what may be the first recorded

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditional ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vernet, Carle 1758 births 1835 deaths Artists from Bordeaux 18th-century French painters French male painters 19th-century French painters Prix de Rome for painting Recipients of the Legion of Honour Members of the Académie des beaux-arts 19th-century French male artists 18th-century French male artists

Biography

Literary references

Selected works

See also

References