Louis Philippe and His Sons, the Duke of Chartres and the Duke of Nemours

Louis Philippe (1773–1850), nicknamed “the Citizen King, ” ruled as a constitutional monarch in France from 1830 to 1848. He had supported the 1789 revolution but fled to Switzerland in 1793 during the Reign of Terror (his father was guillotined). During his twenty-one-year exile—including two years in Philadelphia—he moved frequently. He returned to France in 1814 with the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. François Gérard made this oil sketch in preparation for a larger portrait at Versailles. It pictures Louis Philippe in the days before his ascent to the throne. His two eldest sons are included: Ferdinand-Philippe (1810–1842), Duke of Chartres and Louis Philippe’s heir, is given pride of place, and Prince Louis (1814–1896), Duke of Nemours (1814–1896), the so-called spare, waits in the wings. Louis Philippe was overthrown in the revolution of 1848, escaping to England, where he died two years later.