Swebach, Bernard Edouard (1800-70); French. Medium: oil on canvas. Date: 1820. During the Napoleonic Wars the French army crossed the river Neman in an attempt to capture Moscow; the Russian army sought to avoid open battle, the French were attacked by small battalions and local Cossacks; France was defeated and this period is now referred to variously as the Patriotic War, the Second Polish War and the Patriotic War of 1812; Provenance: Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia. Photographic Rights The Bridgeman Art Library.