The "3 Views of Lisbon" exhibition at the Museu de Lisboa, at Palácio Pimenta, revealed that a painting previously titled "Junot reviewing troops at Rossio" does not depict the French general Junot, but rather the first parade of the Lisbon Commerce Royal Volunteers Infantry Regiment, created in 1809, after the withdrawal of the invading troops. The experts Philippe Mendes, Pedro Flor and Paulo Almeida Fernandes determined that the protagonist of the canvas, a horseman wearing a bicorne hat, is probably António Francisco Machado, a tobacco merchant and first commander of this elite militia corps, formed by bourgeois and Lisbon businessmen.
The investigation identified that Machado was forced to pay 120 thousand réis as a "Forced Loan" to Junot's army, according to a list published in the Gazette of Lisbon on December 3, 1807. The work remained for decades in the Machado family collection, descendants of the merchant, which indicates he was likely the one who commissioned the painting. The proposed new title is "The first parade of the Commerce Royal Volunteers infantry regiment." The painting, which was hidden for almost two centuries and was briefly exhibited in 1947 at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga during celebrations of the reconquest of Lisbon from the Moors, the French invasion, and the court's flight to Brazil, now belongs to Prince Rahim Aga Khan V, a resident of Geneva.
There is another painting with the same title, this time a sepia ink engraving by Luís António Xavier (LAX), which actually depicts Junot reviewing troops at the Rossio on February 1, 1808, as described in the Gazette of Lisbon of the time. LAX's work shows Junot on horseback wearing the uniform of the Legion of Honour, accompanied by general officers, coming from the Baron of Quintela's small palace on Rua do Alecrim to the Rossio, with the French tricolor flag hoisted at São Jorge Castle. This drawing, in contrast to the anonymous canvas, presents a rigorous and orderly military parade.
The anonymous canvas, beyond the controversy over its protagonist, constitutes a valuable historical document of Lisbon in the early 19th century, showing the post-earthquake reconstruction of 1755, the Pombaline buildings of the Rossio, Nicola's Café, the ruins of the Carmo Convent (with half the windows it has today, as the building would later become a GNR barracks), and crowds of Lisbonites who lived through half a century of political and social upheaval from the earthquake to the French invasions. The work will be on display at the Museu de Lisboa until the end of September, made available by the new owner.
