Location

Country: France
City: Paris
Place: British Embassy

The French King, Louis-Philippe, landed at Portsmouth on 8 October 1844 for a Royal visit that was intended to strengthen his alliance with Queen Victoria, which had begun the previous year with her visit to the château d'Eu in Picardy. Louis-Philippe's reciprocal visit was the first to England by a French monarch since 1356. His arrival in Portsmouth in his paddle steamer, the ‘Gomer’, was one of several carefully staged pieces of pageantry. To welcome Louis-Philippe, the Queen’s guns were repeatedly fired causing smoke to build up on the anchorage.

French painter and lithographer Édouard Pingret wrote and illustrated ‘Voyage de S. M. Louis-Philippe 1er Roi des Francais au Chateau de Windsor’ (published 1846). The work included 25 lithographic plates, including this image - the visit to Claremont House. The French King visited Claremont House on 14 October 1844, where he was met by the Duchess of Kent. Queen Victoria later lent the house to the exiled Louis-Philippe and his wife Marie-Amelie, after the French Revolution of 1848 and the former French King died there on 26 August 1850.

Édouard Henri Théophile Pingret was born in Saint-Quentin, in Picardy, northern France. His father, Henri Pingret Jullien, practised law and was related to Protestant aristocracy. Pingret studied in Paris under the painters Jacques-Louis David and Jean-Baptiste Regnault, and also in Rome at the Academy of Saint Luke. From 1810 he exhibited his work at the Paris salons. He was appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1831. From 1850 to 1855, he lived and worked in Mexico, where he exhibited at the Academia de Bellas Artes. He painted portraits of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1808) and General Mariano Arista (1851; Mexico City, Museum of Natural History).

The painter and lithographer Jean Victor Adam was born in Paris in 1801 and died at Viroflay, in north-central France, in 1867. He was the son of engraver Jean Adam, from whom he received his first drawing lessons. Adam became known for his large-scale battle scenes.

Places

England, Surrey

Subjects

carriage, topography, royal portrait, tree, dog, horse, man, woman, girl, 19th century costume, dress, top hat, bonnet, Prince, Princess, royal/state visit, path, garden, lawn, country house/mansion, portico, column, facade, steps

Materials & Techniques

lithograph, colour lithograph

Artist

Édouard Henri Théophile Pingret
Pierre Louis Philippe Alphonse Bichebois (1801 - 1850)
Jean Victor Adam (1801 - 1867)
Michel Charles Fichot (1817 - 1903)

Title

Visite à Claremont House [Visit of Louis Philippe]

Date

Medium

Colour lithograph

Acquisition

Purchased from Parker Gallery, October 1974

GAC number

11554