Vernet arrived in Rome as the Director of the French Academy on 18 January 1829. He remained until February 1835, becoming a professor at the Ecole des beaux-arts on his return to Paris. Born in his father's lodgings at the Louvre to a family with strong connections to the government, Vernet was well-situated to navigate the political complexities of the era with aplomb. He avoided portraying Napoleon outright, but his depictions of soldiers communicated his liberal sympathies.
The summer of 1830 in Paris brought protests and a three-day uprising in July, which soon led to the overthrow of the Bourbon king Charles X and the installation of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, in his place. The French community in Rome felt the effects of this political drama. The French ambassador, Auguste, comte de La Ferronays, fled to Naples, leaving Vernet the only official representative of France in Rome.
Vernet's drawing may be a response to these events. He has depicted a soldier, wearing a tall shako hat and carrying his rifle and bayonet, heading into battle. The caption, "the last evening at the Académie de France," might refer to the weekly Thursday evenings hosted by Horace and Louise Vernet.
Signed, dated, and inscribed in pencil at lower right, "H Vernet Rome. 1831.", and below this "dernière Soirée à l'academie de France!!!".
fragment of J. WHATMAN TURKEY MILL 1825.
Warner, Virginia, donor.
Rowlands, Peter, former owner.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twenty-First Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984-1986. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1989, p. 386-387.
Isabelle Chave, "Après le prix de Rome. La formation à l'Académie de France à Rome sous le directorat d'Horace Vernet (1829-1834), à travers sa correspondence," Romantisme 2011/3 (no. 153), 11-41.