Antoine-Jean Gros, called Baron Gros, painted this beautiful portrait of the French military officer Marquis Pierre Gaston Henri de Livron (1770-1831) in about 1812 likely on a visit to Naples. It was almost certainly meant as a model for one of the central figures in Baron Gros’ Capture of Capri,¹ a compositional sketch for an unrealized project celebrating Joachim Murat’s first military achievements as King of Naples, a crown he was granted in 1808. On October 4 of that year, Murat sent nearly 2,000 soldiers under the command of General Jean-Maximilien Lamarque to capture the island of Capri from British forces. Lamarque features at the center of Baron Gros’ large and dynamic composition, but he is joined nearby by his closest aide-de-camps, including the present sitter. Livron, who served Murat in Naples until the end of Napoleonic rule in May 1815, distinguished himself in this early battle by leading troops up the cliffs of Anacapri, rallying his men with “Soldiers! We are not yet acquainted but if you would kindly follow me, we soon shall be.”

This portrait of Marquis de Livron is defined by remarkable vitality and energy. Cheeks flushed, hair disheveled, and gaze resolute, he is rendered with a steadfast presence, a notable contrast to the lightness of touch employed to capture his likeness. His facial features are modeled with soft strokes of pale tones and further defined by darker browns and reds. The swirl of brushstrokes to define his golden hair descend into his beard and moustache, while strokes of white and hatched lines add further dimension to this virtuosic sketch by Baron Gros.

This sketch once formed part of the collects ion of art historian and dealer Germain Seligman, the son of Jacques Seligman. In Germain’s collects ion was a similarly rendered head of Joachim Murat painted by Baron Gros as a study for the central figure in The Battle of Aboukir, a painting the artist presented at the Salon of 1806 that is today in the Palace of Versailles.²

1. Paris, collects ion Fédéric Masson, Fondation Dosne-Thiers, oil on canvas, 84 by 140 cm. See D. O’Brien, After the Revolution. Antoine-Jean Gros, Painting and Propoganda, Pennsylvania State University Press 2006, pp. 184, 186, reproduced fig. 112.

2. Richardson 1979, cat. no. 30, reproduced.