ON THE ROAD FROM WATERLOO TO PARIS
By MARCUS STONE


ON THE ROAD FROM WATERLOO TO PARIS
By MARCUS STONE, R.A. (1840-1921)
IN THE GUILDHALL ART GALLERY. LONDON

There are many points of interest of a personal nature connected with this picture in addition to its imaginative and dramatic power. It was painted just half a century ago when the artist was only twenty-two years old, and for a boy of that age it is certainly a remarkable achievement. The artist, when staying with Charles Dickens at Gad's Hill, came across a volume of Beranger, and read therein the exquisite poem " Souvenir du Peuple," which inspired the young painter with the idea for this work. So enamoured with it was he, that the picture was rapidly completed, and was exhibited in the Royal Academy the following year.

This particular episode In the life-story of Napoleon has a perpetual interest for English folk. After the disastrous defeat of Waterloo, the Emperor, with a small escort, fled to Paris, and the picture presents an incident of the flight. Resting for a brief space, he has entered a cottage, and is brooding by the fire. General Bertrand is drying the Emperor's coat, while a group of peasants stand aloof and gaze with awe and sympathy at their fallen idol- a young mother with a baby in her arms, a little girl and boy, a young widow, and an old soldier with an empty sleeve. There is an absence of men of fighting age, who have been drawn away for service in the campaign. A statuette of the Emperor on the chimney shelf, and a print of him in his coronation robes on the wall, accentuate the lost glory, which is further emphasised by the drizzling rain outside, where the villagers are to be seen questioning the escort.

From the book "Famous Paintings" Volume 2 printed in 1913.

Large files of this public domain print are available at Stock Photos at Songs of Praise
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Online "Name the Painting"









Napoleon and the Waterloo Campaign
from PBS

Two's Company, Three's None
painting by Marcus Stone

Marcus Stone
at Wikipedia

Wood Engraving by Marcus Stone

Marcus Stone
at Art Net


Famous Paintings in this Series





James Archer
My Great Grandmother


Bashkirtseff
The Meeting


Bouguereau
Charity


John Brett
From the Dorsetshire Cliffs


Arnesby Brown
The River Bank


Joseph Clark
Mother's Darling


John Constable
The Hay-Wain


Jean Baptiste Camille
Corot
The Fisherman's Hut


Jean Baptiste Camille
Corot
A Flood


Leonardo Da Vinci
Monna Lisa


Edouard Detaille
The Dream


Henri Fantin-Latour
Flowers


Thomas Gainsborough
Queen Charlotte


Thomas Gainsborough
The Market Cart


Jean Baptiste Greuze
The Head of a Girl


Jean Baptiste Greuze
Fidelity


James Clark Hook
Home With the Tide


Alfred William Hunt
Windsor Castle


Josef Israels
The Shipwrecked Mariner


B.W. Leader
The Stream in Summer-time


Madame Vigee Le Brun
Portrait of the Artist

Alphonse Legros
A Canal With a Fisherman


Anton Mauve
Watering Horses


J.L.E. Meissonier
The Cavalier


Sir J.E. Millais
Speak! Speak!


Sir J.E. Mallais
My First Sermon


George Morland
The Reckoning


George Morland
The Inside of a Stable


Murillo
The Immaculate Conception
of the Virgin


Alfred Parsons
When Nature Painted
All Things Gay


Ralph Peacock
The Sisters


Rembrandt
Syndics of the
Cloth Merchants' Guild


Guido Reni
"Ecce Homo"


Sir Joshua Reynolds
Portrait of Mrs. Richard Hoare
With Her Infant Son


Briton Riviere
The Temptation
in the Wilderness


Dante Gabriel
Rossetti
Day Dreams


John Singer Sargent
Miss Ellen Terry
as Lady Macbeth


Lady Stanley
(Dorothy Tennant)
His First Offence


Jan Steen
Grace Before Meat


Marcus Stone
On the Road from
Waterloo to Paris


Constant Troyon
Watering Cattle


H.S. Tuke
"All Hands to the Pumps"


Velazquez
King Philip IV. of Spain


S.E. Waller
Sweethearts and Wives


Thomas Webster
The Smile

Index
Famous Paintings Volume 1
Art Gallery

Index
Famous Paintings Volume 2
Art Gallery

Index
Art Appreciation
Lessons