“… the procession of royal carriages turned the corner of Albemarle Street …” (April 20, 1814)

The details of the Allies’ formal entry into London in Chapter 18 are based on Peter Quennell’s description in Byron: The Years of Fame, 1935 (pp. 220f):

 

‘Louis XVIII, returning to his throne, made a triumphal entry into London. The Regent went to welcome him as far as Stanmore; and from that town, where Louis, gouty, infirm and obese, was lifted bodily out of his carriage to greet the Prince, who, dressed in the uniform of a field-marshal, stood waiting at the door of a local inn, they drove behind cream-white horses through vast crowds of cheering citizens, up Piccadilly and into Albemarle Street. The first-floor balcony at John Murray’s was an excellent vantage point from which to view the procession, but Byron declined his publisher’s invitation. It was dusk before the royal carriages, escorted by the Horse Guards, trumpeters splendid in gold lace, a hundred gentlemen on horseback, outriders, and “all the pomp and rabblement of royalty,” drew up at Grillon’s Hotel, Albemarle Street. “The people unanimously huzzaed;” ladies flourished their handkerchiefs; and the mountainous monarch, clutching the Prince Regent’s arm, allowed himself to be conducted to the principal parlour. “Much overcome with fatigue,” he accepted a chair. On his left was the Duke of York, on his right the Prince Regent and the Duchesse d’Angouleme; the Prince de Condé and the Duc de Bourbon sat facing him, and his suite and ambassadors packed the room.’

 

Quennell does not give his source, but the description matches the one in England's Triumph: being an account of the Rejoicings, &c. which have lately taken place in London and elsewhere; Including the Restoration of Louis XVIII., the Proclamation of Peace, the visit of the Emperor of Russia, and the King of Prussia, etc., published in London by J. Hatchard in 1814. This is available as a free e-book at Google Play.

 

Later, in France … Louis-Philippe Crépin, Allégorie du retour des Bourbons le 24 avril 1814 : Louis XVIII relevant la France de ses ruines, 1814. Musée du château de Versailles, north wing, 19th Century Paintings, Room 1 (garden)

 

The author of this painting, Louis-Philippe Crépin (1772–1851) is best known as a marine artist, and actually served as a sailor for four years before he started painting – but that’s a different story. However, it may explain the ships in the background. Can anyone tell me what those buildings are?

According to the caption, the pictures features ‘Louis XVIII, Louis-Antoine d'Artois, duc d'Angoulême, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte de France, duchesse d'Angoulême, Alexandre-Angélique de Talleyrand-Périgord, Louis V-Joseph de Bourbon, VIIIe prince de Condé, Charles X, Charles-Ferdinand d'Artois, duc de Berry, Alexandre Ier, empereur de Russie, la France’, but apart from Louis XVIII and France I cannot really tell who is who, although the lady in white at left must be his niece Marie-Thérèse Charlotte de France (1778–1851), the eldest child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and the only one to reach adulthood. Her husband (and first cousin) the duc d’Angoulême was the eldest son of the future Charles X, her father's younger brother. The French royal family had spent their years of exile in Great Britain, where they stayed at Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire.

I reckon the cardinal seen in profile behind the duc and duchesse is Alexandre-Angélique de Talleyrand-Périgord – uncle of the famous statesman and diplomat Talleyrand (Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, bishop of Autun). Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, had by this time reached the venerable age of 74 and he’s usually depicted wearing the cordon du Saint-Esprit, the light blue riband of the Order of the Holy Ghost – but there are five figures wearing a blue ribbon in this painting! Charles X is also frequently depicted with his blue ribbon; at the time the painting was made he was still Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; he succeeded to his elder brother Louis XVIII in 1824.

At this point I gave up, but I’d really love to know who the exhausted-looking fellow in the green coat and striped breeches is – he’s standing in the front row, third from the right, and wearing two ribbons, a gold one across a blue one. Note the two chaps peeping around the column and over the banister at the back there – a nice touch, isn’t it?

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Update 26 April 2021

Beth Elliott kindly pointed me to this entry about the painting on a rather marvelous website funded by the French Ministry of Culture. The site is mostly in French, but here's what the entry says, more or less:  

Louis-Philippe Crépin (1772–1851), Allegory of the Bourbon Restoration, 24 April 1814: Louis XVIII raising France from her ruins

 

Historical Context: The Monarchy Restored

No one would have dreamed of restoring the Bourbons to the French throne had it not been for the political vacuum left by Napoleon’s defeat and abdication – or for the clear preference expressed by the Allies, particularly Russia. On 6 April 1814, the same French Senate that had served Napoleon’s regime proposed a new constitution. It took account of the achievements of the French Revolution and essentially maintained Napoleonic institutions, but called to the throne "Louis, brother of the last king". The enthusiasm that greeted Louis’s brother Charles, comte d’Artois – he succeeded to the throne in 1824 – when he entered Paris also argued for the Bourbons, and the signing of the armistice with the Allies meant that the restoration would coincide with the return of peace. Louis XVIII had spent the years of his exile in England. Now he sailed for Calais. His arrival is captured in this allegorical painting by Louis-Philippe Crépin (1772–1851).

 

Pictorial Analysis: A Traditional Allegory

Crépin was not among the leading artists of his time, but he was fairly successful as a marine painter. This may have been thanks to his familiarity with shipboard life, since he had served in the French Navy from 1794 to 1798. After studying with another French marine painter, Joseph Vernet, he enjoyed the favour of high personages including the Princes of Orléans. His Allegory of the Restoration of the Bourbons is a perfect illustration of the aesthetic principles of a bygone age which he carried far into the nineteenth century.

He had to work quickly to finish his painting in time for the 1814 salon, which opened in Paris in early autumn. Neither its conception nor its execution are at all innovative: Louis XVIII, swathed in his coronation robes and wearing the Order of the Garter which he received by special decree on 21 April 1814, is supporting a faltering France in his arms. At left we see Marie-Thérèse Charlotte de France, Duchess of Angoulême. The only surviving child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, she stands for dynastic continuity and the Ancien Régime. Since Louis XVIII and his brother were both widowed, and because her spouse was next in line to the throne after them, she was the royal family’s first lady. The Duke of Angoulême, his brother the Duke of Berry and their father the Count of Artois are also present, as are the other “princes of the blood”: the Prince de Condé, who had commanded one of the emigré armies, and his son, the Duke of Bourbon. The Duke of Orléans, the future Louis Philippe I, is the only member of the royal family who is missing here, taking the blame for his father, known as Philippe Egalité, who had voted for the death of his cousin Louis XVI. Crépin’s painting also shows the four main allied sovereigns that had been instrumental to the restoration, even though Tsar Alexander I, the Austrian Emperor Francis I, King George III of England and King Frederick William III of Prussia were not actually in Calais at the time. Behind them are the marshals of France. At top centre we see the restored king’s cypher, consisting of two interlaced "Ls" surrounded by a wreath.

 

Interpretation 

Crépin’s visual idiom is deeply traditional. In the foreground, nymphs and putti playing with trophies of arms symbolize the return of peace. Louis XVIII appears as the providential saviour of France. The other figures in the painting seem to stand only for themselves: they are important because they are there, their rank is specified by their position in the painting. For contemporary viewers, it would have been easy to identify the figures, and the events to which the scene refers were familiar. As a work of art the painting is disappointing, since it lacks both invention and personality, and it cannot be said to be typical of Crépin’s oeuvre.

Translated from Barthélemy Jobert and Pascal Torrès, “Allégorie du Retour des Bourbons le 24 avril 1814: Louis XVIII relevant la France de ses ruines”, Histoire par l'image [online], accessed 25 April 2021. URL : http://histoire-image.org/fr/etudes/allegorie-retour-bourbons-24-avril-1814-louis-xviii-relevant-france-ses-ruines

 

And I still don't know who the chap in the striped breeches is!