Distribution of the eagles by the Prince-President at the Champ-de-Mars on May 10, 1852

On May 10, 1852, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte distributed the traditional eagles to the French army during a ceremony that was hosted on the Champ-de-Mars, in front of the military school.
In this work, the artist shows the grandiosity of the event: the sumptuous canopy, which was constructed against the facade of the military school to shelter the official court, occupies the central space of the painting, leaving the silhouette of the Prince-President to be spotted at the center of the stairway. In the foreground, the armies are lined up on the Champ-de-Mars, lending strongly symbolic value to this moment. The future Napoleon III seeks to simultaneously ensure the loyalty of the army towards him and position himself as the heir of Napoleon I through the reproduction of the ceremony of the distribution of the eagles that took place in the same location on December 5, 1804.
The painting was presented at the 1855 Salon (No. 3832) and was purchased by the Emperor Napoleon III's civil list.