1805, Cuirassiers Before the Charge

1805, Cuirassiers Before the Charge (French - 1805, Les Cuirassiers avant la charge, Cuirassiers of 1805, before battle or 1805) is an 1878 painting by Ernest Meissonier, showing a column of Napoleonic cuirassiers in the uniform of the 12th Cuirassier Regiment before making a cavalry charge. Artillery are shown taking up position in the right background, whilst on a hill in the far distance (between the second and third NCO from the right) can be seen Napoleon and his chief of staff.

First exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1878 in Paris, it was bought for 275000 francs by the Belgian collector Prosper Crabbe. It then passed into the collection of Ernest Secrétan and was lot 39 in the sale of that collection in 1889, from which it was bought for 199652 francs by Henri d'Orleans, duke of Aumale. The duke kept it in his château de Chantilly and gave it to the Institut de France with the rest of his collection - it now forms part of the musée Condé.