Watercolour Miniature Portrait on Ivory.
JUNOT, (Andoche, General, Duc d'Abrantes)
Attractive C19th. circular portrait, c.2Ω" diameter, under glass in simple metal surround. Glass slightly speckled, but overall very good indeeed. Signed "Vernier". ?French, n.d. [c1812]
Known as "The Tempest" for his impetuous military conduct, Junot was a singluarly ill-starred General. He came to Napoleon's notice at the Siege of Toulon and as his A-D-C carried back the captured colours after the battle of Millesimo. He received a serious head-wound during the campaign in Italy, and was further wounded when acting as Napoleon's substitute in a duel with General Lanusse whilst in Egypt. "He had to be left in Egypt owing to his wounds, which, added to those he had received at Millesimo, caused a mental malady that was destined to prove fatal in the end." [Richardson p.29].
In 1805 he was appointed Ambassador to Lisbon, but left the post to serve on Napoleon's staff at Austerlitz, where he "gave fresh evidence of his valour" [ibid.] As Commander of the Corps of Observation of the Gironde he was ordered to occupy Portugal in 1807, and after taking Lisbon he was appointed Governor General. Defeat by Wellington at Vimeiro was followed by ignominious flight from the country under the terms of the Convention of Cintra. Returning to Portugal in 1810 under Massena he was engaged at Ciudad Rodrigo, Bussaco, Sobral and Fuentes de Onoro, being seriously wounded yet again at Rio Major. "He had now to face the Emperor's serious displeasure, loss of prestige, and mental illness, and these combined to hasten the final catastrophe. His last campaign was that of Russia... in 1813 his misfortunes brought about insanity - and he threw himself out of the window [of his parent's home] Monthard, with fatal consequences." [ibid.]
A youthful Junot, he was only forty-two at his death, is shown wearing a dark blue coat with gold lacing at the lapels & bullion epaulletes, black neck-stock, and a bicorne, fore & aft, decorated with dark blue ostrich feathers & a white plume. Contemporary pencilled identification to the reverse, later inked confirmation.
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