Horace Vernet: Battle of Fontenoy (1828)

(Museum of the History of France, Versailles, France)

A painting by the French artist Horace Vernet (1789-1863). The battle of Fontenoy, 11th of May 1745, was a part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). The war was fought by France and her allies against the Habsburg monarchy, supported by Great Britain, The Dutch Republic, Sardinia and Saxony. The reason for the war was the issue of Maria Theresa's succession to the Habsburg Monarchy. According to Salic law "the inheritance of the land shall not come to a woman but to the male". at the battle of Fontenoy, A French army of 50,000 commanded by Marshal Saxe defeated a slightly larger Allied army of 52,000, led by the Duke of Cumberland. The painting shows the Irish Brigade of the French army presenting a captured British flag to king Louis XV of France and the Dauphin Louis (son of Louis XV and his wife, Queen Marie Leszczyńska). Painting from 1828.