Possibly Gaspard Baron Gourgaud

In view of the medals and the outward resemblance, this portrait most likely depicts Gaspard Gourgaud (1783–1852).¹ The son of a musician at the court of Louis XVI in Versailles, he opted for a military career and rose in the ranks to become one of Napoleon’s most important generals. Loyal to the emperor, he followed him into numerous battles and finally accompanied him into his exile to St Helena. He left the island in 1818 to live in England. Rehabilitated after the revolution of 1830, he once again assumed leadership positions in the military in his native country. To this day, his diary counts as one of the most significant sources regarding Napoleon’s last battles and his second exile. In 1822, Gourgaud married Françoise Marthe Roederer, with whom he had a son symbolically named Louis Napoléon Marie Hélène.

The general is depicted with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour and the Order of Leopold. The Order of St George, which Gourgaud was also awarded, is missing. The general may have wanted in this manner to emphasise the importance of the Order of Leopold, which is also the case in portraits of Louis Phillipe.² Gourgaud probably commissioned this portrait in 1848 after he had been retired by the provisional government established that same year, and to commemorate his earlier honours.

Daubigny painted at least two versions of this miniature, ³ and he had already painted the general ten years previously. That miniature also shows him in uniform and adorned with medals, but with a moustache and a short goatee.⁴

B. P.