Italian Brigands Surprised by Papal Troops  1831

In this scene, papal troops intercept brigands who are looting a coach and carrying off its passengers. During the 19th century, brigands, or "banditi," posed a real threat to travelers in rural areas of the Italian states, but they were also idealized as daring outlaws. Horace Vernet, the director of the Académie de France in Rome (1828-34) and professor at the École des ...