César-René-Marie-François-Rodolphe de Vachon, Marquis de Belmont-Briançon, a battlefield beyond

Portrait of the Marquis de Belmont-Briancon from around 1826 shows a military aristocrat with a battlefield beyond. Vernet's combination of portraiture with military landscape was his distinctive contribution to the genre. Vernet, director of the French Academy in Rome from 1828 and one of the most prolific history painters of the 19th century, executed military and narrative subjects with the fluid technical assurance and documentary accuracy that made him the pre-eminent French battle painter.

The portrait combines the sitter's features with a background military scene. Vernet's handling creates a vivid image of military aristocratic identity.