1805, Cuirassiers Before the Charge

This painting depicts a scene set in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars. Under low cloud cover, two rows of cuirassiers await the signal to begin charging, with five non-commissioned officers in front of them also at the ready. They are wearing the distinctly coloured uniforms of the 12th Cuirassier Regiment.[1] On the left, a Division General in a tail-coat and distinctive gold and scarlet sash is pointing in a direction while addressing a cuirassier officer, probably the Colonel of the 12th Regiment. Behind them stand a trumpeter in yellow, an aide-de-camp to the Division General in a hussar-style uniform, and two more cuirassiers. On the right, a group of artillerymen are moving in front of a row of houses. In the far distance, on a hill between the second and third non-commissioned officer from the right, can be seen Napoleon and his chief of staff.[1]

Meissonier's intention was not to depict a specific battle, but rather a celebration of the cuirassiers of the First French Empire.[1]

The painting was first exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1878 in Paris. It was bought for 275,000 francs[2] by the Belgian collector Prosper Crabbe,[1] and then passed into the collection of Ernest Secrétan. In the 1889 auction of that collection, it was listed as lot 39 and bought for 199,652 francs Henri d'Orleans, duke of Aumale. The painting is later donated, alongside the rest of his collection and property, to the Institut de France with the rest of his collection; it now forms part of the Musée Condé.[2]

• Les cuirassiers de 1805, avant le combat on the Musée Condé website