01 Work, The Art of War, Jean Alaux's Bataille de Denain, with footnotes

Jean Alaux  (1786–1864)

Bataille de Denain, 24 juillet 1712, c. 1839

Oil on canvas

465 × 543 cm (15.2 × 17.8 ft)

Palace of Versailles 

The Battle of Denain was fought on 24 July 1712 as part of the War of the Spanish Succession. It resulted in a French victory, under Marshal Villars, against Dutch and Austrian forces, under Prince Eugene of Savoy.

It was the war's last battle in Flanders and one of the most consequential, breaking the Grand Alliance's ability to threaten Paris and reversing nearly seven years of French territorial losses. In itself a local and tactical victory, Denain was made decisive by its relentless exploitation by Villars, who skillfully maneuvered to reclaim strategic border fortifications that would blunt any allied effort to renew their advance on Paris and dictate peace terms to Louis XIV. More on The Battle of Denain

Jean Alaux, called "le Romain", (1786 – 2 March 1864) was a French history painter and Director of the French Academy in Rome from 1846 to 1852.

Alaux was born in Bordeaux, the son of a painter. He received his first lessons in art from his father, but went on to a formal training with Pierre Lacour and later with Pierre-Narcisse Guérin. In 1807 he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. From 1808 he entered works for the Prix de Rome. Alaux eventually won the major Prix de Rome in 1815 with a work entitled Briseis weeping over the body of Patroclus, a scene inspired by the Iliad of Homer. He subsequently became a pensionnaire at the French Academy in Rome from 1816 to 1820 and went on to become its director.

Alaux was appointed as director of the French Academy in Rome in 1846 and was caught up in the siege of Rome of 1849, involving defending Italian forces under Garibaldi and the invading French army; he and his students were forced to temporarily flee the city for France. His directorship ended quietly with his retirement in 1852.

Alaux died in Paris on 2 March 1864. More on Jean Alaux

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