Battle of Austerlitz, 2 December 1805 (Gérard)

Battle of Austerlitz, 2 December 1805
Artist	François Gérard
Year	1810
Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	510 cm × 958 cm (200 in × 377 in)
Location	Palace of Versailles, Versailles

Battle of Austerlitz, 2 December 1805 is an oil-on-canvas painting by French painter François Gérard, created in 1810. It depicts a scene from the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, where the French army defeated the Russian and the Austrian armies. It is one of the paintings displayed in the Gallery of the Battles, at the Palace of Versailles.

History and description

Gérard was commissioned to create the large canvas in 1810. It was shown for the first time at the Salon that same year. The painting was originally intended for the ceiling of the room of the French State Council. It was meant to glorify the military victory of Napoleon, and it depicts the moment after the French win in the battle when general Jean Rapp while riding his horse presents to Napoleon, at his right, surrounded by his generals, the defeated Russian Prince Nikolai Repnin-Volkonsky, other prisoners and the standards taken to the enemy as war trophies. From the left corner of the painting, the mythical "sun of Austerlitz" seems to illuminate the scene, as another part of the Napoleonic legend. In the field of the battle lie several injured or dead soldiers.

Location

In 1833, King Louis-Philippe I of the French decided to convert the Palace of Versailles into a historical museum of France. The Galerie des Batailles was inaugurated in 1837. In the gallery, 33 monumental canvases where displayed, depicting military episodes in the history of France. Gérard's canvas has been exposed there since then.