Entry of Charles X into Paris at the Gate of la Villette, after his Coronation

Louis-François, Baron Lejeune's Entry of Charles X into Paris at the Gate of la Villette, after his Coronation (1825) depicts the triumphant procession of the new Bourbon king into his capital following his coronation at Reims in May 1825 — a ceremony that had been revived for the first time since the Revolution and invested with maximum symbolic weight by the ultra-royalist regime. The painting celebrates a moment of Bourbon confidence that would be completely reversed five years later with Charles X's forced abdication after the July Revolution of 1830. Lejeune captured the festive atmosphere without knowing he was painting the high-water mark of Restoration royalism.

Lejeune deploys his panoramic talent in a ceremonial register — the wide Parisian boulevard, the royal procession, the celebrating crowd — organizing a complex scene with the spatial clarity of an artist trained to depict large-scale military operations. The palette is festive and warm, with the royal cortège providing the colour accent against the grey urban architecture.