The Fatherland under Threat (La Patrie en Danger)

This is an unfinished study for a large painting representing La Patrie en Danger painted by the artist on the commission of King Louis Philippe in 1832. The composition was ordered for the Salle de Sept Chemin�es in the Louvre as a pendant to another grand painting of more recent history: the Lecture de la D�claration des d�pute�s proclamant le duc d’Orleans lieutenant g�neral du royaume, 21 juillet 1830. The final painting, which is now in the deposits of Versailles, has not been shown for many years, and was left unfinished at the artist’s death.