Salon of 1814

The Salon of 1814 was an art exhibition held at the Louvre in Paris from 5 November 1814. It was the first Salon to be held since the defeat of Napoleon and the Bourbon Restoration that brought Louis XVIII to the throne.^[1] It featured a mixture of paintings and works of sculpture.

One of the most celebrated artists of the Napoleonic regime Jacques-Louis David had gone into exile and was absent from the Salon. However, Léon Matthieu Cochereau exhibited his Interior of David's Studio.^[2] Several of the works had appeared at earlier exhibitions such as Théodore Gericault's The Charging Chasseur which had featured in the Salon of 1812.^[3] By contrast Géricault's The Wounded Cuirassier was shown for the first time.^[4] Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres wanted his entries "to cause some noise" and demonstrate the supremacy of history painting above all other genres.^[5] Anicet Lemonnier enjoyed success with his depiction of eighteenth century Paris In the Salon of Madame Geoffrin in 1755.^[6] British artist John Crome, who was visiting Paris, exhibited a view of Norwich. This anticipated the breakthrough by British landscape paintings a decade later at the Salon of 1824.^[7]

François Gérard, a noted painter of the Napoleonic era, rushed to complete his Portrait of Louis XVIII in time for the exhibition.^[8] It was followed by the Salon of 1817 which was more overt in its support of the Bourbon dynasty.