Andrea APPIANI (Milan 1754-1817) Portrait... - Lot 38 - Daguerre

Andrea APPIANI (Milan 1754-1817) Portrait of General Junot (1771-1813) Walnut panel, one plank, not parquet flooring. 27.5 x 20.3 cm On the back an inscription: made by / andrée appiani in Milan year 5. Carved and gilded wooden frame, Italian work of the late 18th century. Shown as a three-quarter bust facing left, against a landscape background, on the left is a battle scene. Nicknamed "The Storm", the French general Jean-Andoche Junot (1771-1813) met a tumultuous fate. Engaged from the Revolution in the volunteer battalion of the Côte d'Or, he was wounded in 1792 by a sword blow to the head during the battle of the Glisuelle in the department of the North. It was during the siege of Toulon in 1793 that he met the artillery commander Bonaparte, of whom he became secretary. He took an active part in the Italian campaign, in the battles of Arcole, Lodi, Castiglione and Tagliamento. He distinguished himself at the battle of Millesimo during which he was aide-de-camp. He is wearing the white and red armband of this function tied to his left arm. At the battle of Lonato in 1797, he was wounded in the left temple. In the years that followed, the scar kept reopening, so much so that, according to the Memoirs of Laure Pernom, Duchess of Abrantes and wife of Junot, every stroke of the comb put her at risk of bleeding. It was probably for this reason and perhaps even to hide this scar that Junot let his hair grow into a large red mane as we can see in this painting dated 1796-1797. He then left for the Egyptian Campaign in May 1798. Gradually, Junot's excesses began to worry the Emperor. Refusing him the title of marshal, he disgraced him and sent him away from the capital on several occasions, sending him to Lisbon as early as 1805. Finally losing what was left of his reason due to a tactical error during the Russian campaign in 1812, Junot returned to France where he took his own life in 1813.