Our watercolour shows elegant visitors admiring a carved and ornamented zebra-wood bedstead with drapery, made by the firm Leistler and Son of Vienna, exhibited during the Great Exhibition of London of 1851 inside the Austrian Pavillion.

Eugène Lami(Paris, 1800 – 1890)

Lami was a French painter and printmaker. He began his studies in painting under Horace Vernet, who later sent him to study with Baron Antoine-Jean Gros at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1817. During this time, he met Théodore Géricault and learned watercolour painting from the English Romantic artist Richard Parkes Bonington.

Much of Lami's early work focused on lithography, a medium that had only recently become commercially viable. Between 1819 and 1821, he produced numerous lithographs depicting the Spanish cavalry, along with a significant series illustrating the uniforms of the French Army.

Lami's military-themed paintings quickly attracted the attention of royalty, allowing him to establish connections with the French court. Louis-Philippe commissioned him to create several military paintings for the château at Versailles, which the king later transformed into a museum in 1837. At this point, Lami began to depict a wide range of subjects in his works, including historical episodes, scenes from high society and court life, as well as architectural landscapes. He subsequently developed a preference for watercolour, which remained his favourite medium for the rest of his life.

In his later years, Lami grew increasingly interested in depicting historical events. At the age of seventy-nine, he played a key role in founding the Society of French Watercolourists. He continued to work actively until his death at the age of ninety.