Framed Canvas drawing Napoleon 1st on his horse

The painting presents Napoleon 1st on horseback, based on the work of Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier, produced by Eugène Laville (1814-1869). This is a pencil and wash drawing on paper, signed lower right.
The original painting by Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier is on display at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, USA.
On the back of the work, there is an inscription in pencil which reads: "Collection of the Château du Sablon de Monsieur le Comte de Lestrange, Périgueux, Dordogne".
Eugène Laville worked in Alsace until 1857, when he moved to Paris. In Alsace, he carried out numerous decorative works, notably in private houses in Strasbourg in collaboration with M. Haffner and J. Lichtenberger. He also made many portraits and contributed to the illustration of the book "Physiological sketches of the city of Strasbourg", for which he created 30 lithographs in collaboration with Jules Vogel. In 1849, he produced the illustrations for "Saverne and its surroundings".
Several of his pictures and paintings adorn churches and chapels in Alsace. In particular, he decorated the chapel of the cemetery of Saverne with murals representing human misery. He also produced a painting representing Christ carrying the Cross for the Protestant church. In the church of Herbitzheim, he painted a Saint-Hubert, a Saint-Augustin and a Saint-Monique. He also produced paintings for the church of Obermodern, the church of Eckartswiller and the abbey church of Ebersmunster, where he restored three large ceilings in the nave depicting the glorification of Saint Benedict, a scene from his life and martyrdom of Saint Maurice and his companions between 1864 and 1867.
Eugène Laville moved to Paris in 1857 and has regularly exhibited at the Paris Salon since that date. In addition to the paintings and drawings presented at the Paris Salon, he produced works for the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin, including "Saint-Quentin and two angels" for the tympanum. He also created a decoration comprising a large ceiling, two panels and six medallions for a hotel on the Champs-Élysées.
In addition, he provided many drawings for publishers of religious engravings, the magazine "Le Magasin Pittoresque" and children's books such as the Abécédaire-joujou for little boys. He also produced illustrations for literary classics such as "Paul and Virginia", the Gospels, "Corinne" and the books of Walter Scott.
The dimensions of the painting are 68.5 x 52.5 cm.

Ref: BP1GNFOOP7