Bataille d'Aboukir, 25 Juillet 1799

Antoine-Jean Gros's Bataille d'Aboukir of 1806 commemorates Murat's cavalry charge that destroyed the Ottoman army at Aboukir in July 1799, completing France's tactical hold on Egypt despite Nelson's destruction of the French fleet. The battle demonstrated the continuing effectiveness of French cavalry against Turkish opponents, and Murat's charge became one of the legendary actions of the Egyptian campaign. Gros depicted the encounter with the same combination of documentary detail and Rubensian dynamic energy that characterized all his Napoleonic battle paintings commissioned for Versailles.

Gros creates a swirling composition of cavalry charges and desperate combat, with Murat's white horse at the center. The warm Orientalist palette and dramatic lighting heighten the exotic spectacle of the Egyptian battlefield.