Execution Date:   

Catalogue Number:   B49

After neutralizing the Piedmontese army, General Bonaparte redirected his attention to the Austrians under General Beaulieu. Before Napoleon could catch up with him, Beaulieu had withdrawn his main force beyond the Po River and then beyond the Ticino. Napoleon decided to cross the Po River relatively far from the main Austrian army at Piacenza in the hope of capturing or disrupting exposed supply lines and then marching straight on Milan. To cover this maneuver, he sent two divisions under Generals Massena and Sérurier to feint a crossing at Valenza. This did not fool Beaulieu who sent out small forces to watch the bridges across the Po. When the French corps d’élite under General Dallemagne, supported by La Harpe’s division, crossed the bridge at Piacenza they encountered a small force under General Liptay who was eventually supported by a force under General Wukassovitch, who moved over quickly from Valeggio. The French forces moved quickly and took the village of Fombio. The Austrian solders there were quickly overcome and as is evident in Bagetti’s watercolour, scattered in all directions.

This is one of the more striking and military of Bagetti’s images. The original conception is his, as is clear from his pen and ink sketch. But this watercolour was actually painted by Parent, a French artist who was also sketching in Italy at this time. Other draftsmen and engineers who worked on the depiction of these battles were Morel, Lejeune, Vernet, Cozette, Pasquier, Lenfant, Maire, Gautier, Lespinasse, Persico, and Pichon. Bacler d’Albe also worked on battle depiction in Northern Italy, but far closer to the time of the battle. In Bacler d’Albe’s work there is more foreground detail and more depiction of the human action than is common in most of Bagetti’s watercolours. In the foreground are the remains of an Austrian encampment. Austrian troops are at the foot of the fort and on the nearby hillock leading to the entry to the Fort and are being chased and killed. They are also being intercepted by French forces rushing up the hill in the far left of the painting. As is clear in the watercolour but clearer in the sketch, they still possess two cannon, which are being fired into oncoming French forces. The image is oriented approximately to the south, to Piacenza, from whence the French forces are coming. French soldiers are flooding into the fort of Fombio and are rushing into the town in pursuit of Austrian soldiers. A woman is seen screaming from one of the windows of the town. Austrian soldiers are depicted streaming over the hill beyond the town, to be met in the plain by more French soldiers.