On Wednesday 25 March, Artcurial will stage a major event as part of its Old Master Drawings & 19th Century sale, unveiling its latest rediscovery: a drawing by Antoine-Jean Gros depicting General Bonaparte seizing the bridge of Arcole on 15 November 1796. The sheet is a preparatory study for the celebrated painting Bonaparte at the Bridge of Arcole, now housed at the Château de Versailles. This historic drawing was executed on 7 December 1796 in Milan, during a brief sitting arranged by Joséphine de Beauharnais. At the time, Gros was 25 years old and Bonaparte 27. Just before returning to the battlefield, the general agreed to devote a few minutes to an artist as young and ambitious as himself. With a few swift strokes of the pencil, Gros captures with striking accuracy the features of the impetuous general.
The romantic fervour of the victorious military leader radiates from the sheet. Bonaparte’s face reveals an extraordinary determination to conquer, while his gaze is as powerful as Gros’s execution of the drawing itself. Created long before Delacroix, this work confirms Gros’s position as a founding figure of French Romanticism. The drawing, previously unpublished, boasts an impeccable provenance. Baron Gros presented it directly to his friend, the painter Vincenzo Camuccini (1771–1844), and it has remained in his family ever since. Its rediscovery among Camuccini’s descendants already ranks as one of the major events of 2026 on the French art market, and a significant privilege for Artcurial’s Old Masters department.