; colored lithograph by Carle Vernet and Jacques Swebach Vernet was born in
Bordeaux. At the age of five, he showed an extraordinary passion for drawing horses, but went through the regular academic course as a pupil of his father and of
Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié. Strangely, after winning the
Prix de Rome (1782), he seemed to lose interest in the occupation, and his father had to recall him from Rome to prevent his entering a
monastery. In his "Triumph of Aemilius Paulus", Vernet broke with tradition and drew the horse with the forms he had learnt from nature in stables and riding schools. His hunting pieces, races, landscapes, and work as a
lithographer were also very popular. Carle's sister was executed by the
guillotine during the
Revolution. After this, he gave up art. '' When he again began to produce under the
French Directory (1795–1799), his style had changed radically. He started drawing in minute detail battles and campaigns to glorify Napoleon. His drawings of
Napoleon's Italian campaign won acclaim as did the
Battle of Marengo, and for his
Morning of Austerlitz Napoleon awarded him the
Legion of Honour, and
Louis XVIII awarded him the
Order of Saint Michael. Afterwards he excelled in hunting scenes and depictions of horses. He produced a painting
Capture of Pamplona celebrating the 1823
Siege of Pamplona which he exhibited at the
Paris Salon of 1824. In addition to being a painter and lithographer, Carle Vernet was an avid horseman. Just days before his death at the age of seventy-eight, he was seen racing as if he were a sprightly young man. He died in
Paris. ==Literary references==