A greyhound with huntsmen beyond

Pencil on paper

Signed with initials and dated 1808 lower left

9.7 x 14.6 cm

Provenance:

Private Collection, Italy

£1,500

Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, known as Carle or Charlot, was the youngest son of Claude-Joseph Vernet and the father of Horace Vernet. He is said to have shown a passion and prodigious ability for drawing animals from as young as five years old and went through the traditional academic training process, as a pupil of his father's and later of Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié. He won the Prix de Rome in 1782 and travelled to the city on the scholarship that accompanied the prize; however, while in the city, he began to lose interest in a professional career as an artist and threatened instead to take the cowl and join a local monastery, before his father recalled him.

 Vernet differed from French artists who had gone before him in his animal draughtsmanship and paintings, showing an extraordinary attention to details taken from life. In particular, he drew horses with an unprecedented knowledge of their form, from time spent in stables and riding schools especially. His early hunting and racing scenes were hugely popular in France, and he maintained his popularity when he moved to painting battle scenes for Napoleon Bonaparte. Vernet's ‘Morning of Austerlitz’ even led to his being awarded the Legion d'Honeur by the Emperor.

 With the restoration of the Monarchy, Vernet secured his position as court painter to Louis XVIII and earned himself the Order de Saint-Michel for his work. Alongside his paintings, drawings and prints of animals, Vernet also excelled in satirical costume studies. He was above all a draughtsman, and the present work shows to great effect his ability to produce vivacity and atmosphere with just the pencil and effective use of the paper for light and shade.