François Pascal Simon GÉRARD, called BARON GÉRARD (Rome, 1770 - Paris, 1837) Study of a horse for the entrance of Henri IV in Paris Canvas Annotations on the right in pencil An old label at the bottom left, bearing the number 153 or 155, and another one on the back on the frame: "L / 13 / 27". According to family tradition, these labels were probably applied during the division of the estate of Count Foy. 80.8 x 64.6 cm Provenance : - Baron Henri Gérard (1818-1903), nephew and heir of Baron François Gérard. - Countess Marie Foy (1849-1915), daughter of the former; remained in her descendants. - Hôtel Drouot, Mes Kapandji-Morhange, December 18, 2015, no. 52. Although Gérard was successful during the Revolution and then the Empire, the kings and princes of the Restoration were not unfavorable to him. Thanks to Talleyrand, he obtained the realization of a portrait of Louis XVIII that he presented at the Salon of 1814. Satisfied, the King's Household commissioned him in 1816 to paint one of his most famous compositions, L'Entrée de Henri IV à Paris (Versailles, Musée du Château), a painting that our sketch prepares. The first large composition since David's exile to present neither heroes of antiquity nor a Napoleonic feat, The Entry of Henry IV into Paris was a huge success when it was presented at the Salon. The painter received many praises, notably from Madame de Coigny, the Count of Noailles and Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun who saw in it "the most perfect" of his works. A preparatory study of the royal mount, in the center of the painting, our sketch illustrates the painter's technique as described by Marie-Eléonor Godefroid (1778-1849), his pupil: "He stopped his compositions by establishing with his hand on the canvas the drawing and the effect by a first sketch. The suppleness of the drawing, the fluidity of the material and the almost "nonchalant" rubbing are characteristic elements of the artist's sketches. The horse motif is relatively rare in Gérard's work. It is found mainly in his large historical compositions, as we can see in our painting, as well as in a few works in his body of work. In particular, it appears in a youthful painting L'Enseigne de l'auberge du Cheval blanc, 1794 (C. Bazin, after Baron Gérard, L'Enseigne du Cheval Blanc, 1854). This double sign, which has now disappeared, showed on one side a horse at rest in the stable and on the other a horse at large. It is the latter that served as the basis for our sketch, its position being identical to that of our animal, except for the neck and head. The dimensions of the two works are also close. Furthermore, one source indicates that Gérard repainted his sign in 1815, which could explain the use of this motif in his painting the following year.