The Duke of Angoulême in the Battle of Trocadero

Paul Delaroche's The Duke of Angoulême in the Battle of Trocadero of 1828 commemorates the 1823 French intervention in Spain, when Louis XVIII sent an army to restore Ferdinand VII — overthrown by the liberal Riego revolt — to absolute power. The 'Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis' crossed the Pyrenees and restored the Spanish king in a campaign that consolidated the Holy Alliance's strategy of suppressing constitutionalism. Delaroche depicted the Duke of Angoulême, the French commander, at the decisive assault on the Trocadero fort near Cadiz, providing the Restoration regime with a modern military success.

Delaroche combines battle painting conventions with his characteristic attention to historical accuracy in costume and setting. The composition centers on the duke directing the assault on the fortress of Trocadero near Cadiz.