The Departure of Bayard from Brescia

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Commissioned by Louis XVIII in 1817, this painting belongs to a series of thirty-two commissioned from various painters to decorate Diane’s gallery at the castle of Fontainebleau.  Exhibited at the 1822 Exhibition, it borrows from the country’s “minor” mediaeval history:  in 1512, “the knight, departing from Brescia for the siege of Ravenna, receives from the two young ladies of the house a purse and two bracelets…”.  However, influenced by his stay in Italy from 1785 to 1790 more than by the anecdote, Bidault focuses largely on the grandiose site of Brescia, arranging architecture and vegetation in a classical design and using almost transparent paint with clear, luminous colours.  This heroisation of the scenery would help Bidault to become the Institute’s foremost landscape artist.