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Départ incognito (Incognito Departure of Empress Eugénie)

Départ incognito (Incognito Departure of Empress Eugénie), 1884, Oil on Canvas
Henri Louis Dupray (French, 1841 – 1909)
#1912.0005.0057

Dupray Departure of Empress Eugenie-2

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Thomas W. Evans Collection

This painting is perhaps one of the most unusual paintings in the Penn art collection. It was painted in 1884 and shown in the Paris salon in that very year. It shows a very unusual episode in recent French history, namely the morning of September 5, 1870, when the Empress Eugénie was departing with Evans for Deauville in his Landau carriage which we also hold here in the Penn Dental School. The Second French Empire had just fallen the day before and the Empress was fleeing France for her exile in England and Dr. Evans was assisting her in her escape.