Watercolor And Ink Wash—signed—encounter With A Hussar—henry Monnier—1832

In this intimate watercolor, Henry Monnier—a brilliant caricaturist, friend of Balzac and Delacroix, and creator of the famous Monsieur Prudhomme—captures, with his characteristic humor, a nighttime scene featuring two figures: face to face, a civilian in a loose-fitting blue coat, his head covered with a cap, his hands in his pockets, and a hussar in a blue uniform embroidered with silver, a shako on his head and a saber at his side, who seems to be making a remark to him or blocking his path.

The atmosphere is vaguely threatening, tinged with the gentle irony that Monnier slipped into all his scenes of everyday life.

The background is rendered in a very loose bluish-gray wash, evoking night, smoke, and a blurred urban setting—a tree, a wall.

The brushwork is lively and swift, with highlights of white and cobalt blue on the uniforms that make the composition shimmer in the darkness. Monnier painted this watercolor in Brussels in 1832, during his grueling theater tours in the provinces and abroad—an intensely creative period in which he juggled acting, drawing, and writing.

Very good overall condition, with slight scattered foxing

16 cm × 15 cm

Sold with its certificate of authenticity