A cavalry battle - Casanove

Booklet from the 1763 Salon:

"By M. Casanova, Academician.
125 Un Combat de Cavalerie.
Painting accepted by the Academy, for the reception of the Author.
126. Autres Tableaux, sous le même numero.

Mercure de France, November 1763:

"M. Casanova.
The same fire of imagination, the same warmth in composition & in color, which were the object of our remarks in 1761, burst forth in the Paintings which M. Casanova exhibited this year & principally in the Cavalry Combat which the Academy accepted for his reception. If we had any new observation to make about this artist, it would be to notice in his sOuvrages more correctness of Design than there was in the preceding ones." (p. 192-3)

Diderot's comment:

"Casanove Ah, Monsieur Casanove, what has become of your talent? Your touch is no longer proud as it used to be, your coloring is less vigorous, your drawing has become quite incorrect. How much you've lost since young Loutherbourg left you! A cavalry battle. Yes, there's always movement in this battle. Here are your horses, I recognize them; these wounded, dead or dying men, this tumult, this fire, this darkness, all these military and terrible scenes are yours. This soldier dashes well; this one strikes wonderfully; this other one falls like a stone; but it's no longer off the canvas, the warmth of the brush has vanished... It is said that Casanove kept a young painter called Loutherbourg, who was finishing his paintings, locked up in a country house for five or six years, and this is hardly proof of the fact. The paintings Casanove exhibited at this Salon are far inferior to those of the previous Salon. Loutherbourg's thumb is missing, by which I mean that long, hard, strong and bold way of doing things, which consists of placing layers of colors on others that seem to pierce through and which served as reserves for them. Another of Casanove's rivals is currently on the rise, and if I'm wrong, he'll also be the talk of the town. His name is Le Paon. He was a pastry-boy, making, I believe, rather bad pâtés, but always drawing, without a master, with no other guide than nature. His passion called him to battle paintings. When his pastry apprenticeship was over, he enlisted in the dragoons, to have the opportunity to see war scenes. With this in mind, he fought in the last three campaigns in Hesse, and found himself at every possible encounter.
The intelligence, warmth and elegance of his work are a testament to his talent. The intelligence, warmth and variety of his various drawings are astonishing. We can still see the progress he has made from campaign to campaign. Our painters have advised him to apply himself to copying some good pictures by some famous battle painter; but the young dragon is cold and mannered in these copies; he needs no other model than nature, and no other guide than his genius."Salon de 1763, CFL V 460)