Le duc d'Orléans quitte le Palais-Royal pour se rendre à l'Hôtel de Ville, 31 juillet 1830

This painting by Horace Vernet, titled “The Duke of Orléans Leaves the Palais-Royal to Go to the Hôtel de Ville, 31 July 1830,” depicts a central episode of the July Revolution. The composition shows the Duke of Orléans, the future Louis-Philippe, advancing on horseback through a dense and restless crowd in the courtyard of the Palais-Royal, among barricades, National Guards, insurgents, and onlookers gathered around the scene. The image emphasizes the meeting of popular movement and dynastic power, the atmosphere of political turning point, and the theatrical character of Parisian space at the moment of the July Revolution. Painted in 1832, this oil on canvas, now in the Palace of Versailles, belongs to contemporary history painting and reflects Vernet’s attention to the founding episodes of the July Monarchy, the urban crowd, and the staging of power in revolution.