Military Parade
1801 to 1825
Medium
pen and brown ink with gray wash over graphite
Dimensions
overall: 17.5 x 25.5 cm (6 7/8 x 10 1/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Accession Number
1985.64.93
Art Historical Context
Constantin Guys, a pioneering 19th-century French artist celebrated by Charles Baudelaire as the "painter of modern life," captures the energy of early 19th-century Europe in *Military Parade* (ca. 1801–1825). Created during Guys' formative years—possibly amid the Napoleonic Wars' aftermath—this intimate drawing depicts soldiers in formation, evoking the pomp and discipline of the era's military culture. At just 17.5 x 25.5 cm, it reflects Guys' role as a visual correspondent, sketching scenes from his own military service and travels. Executed in pen and brown ink with gray wash over graphit...
About the Artist
Constantin Guys · 1802–1892
Constantin Guys, born Ernest-Adolphe-Hyacinthe-Constantin Guys de Saint-Hélène on December 3, 1802, in Vlissingen, Netherlands, to French parents François Lazare Guys and Elisabeth Bétin, spent his early years in a naval family that relocated to Calais around 1805. His early life is not well documented, with no records of formal art training, teachers, or schools; Guys appears to have been largely...