The Reaper with a Sickle (1838)

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot: The Reaper with a Sickle

The Woman with the Wild-Grown Hair
Observes "Reaper with a Sickle"
(Jean Baptiste Camille Corot)

The girl rests, blouse down over
one shoulder, her head on hand,
elbow on knee, dark skirt
covering her spread legs,
a sickle hanging
loosely in her left hand.
Behind her storm clouds gather,
two figures, arms raised
in the act of cutting grain
on a long flat stretch of bland fields.

Her face is what draws the Woman,
brown hair like her
own parted in the center,
mouth slightly open
over shiny white teeth,
sad dark eyes, a long line down
the left side of her face,
a young face but world-worn.
It is the look the Woman
remembers from her mirror
in the time of her own youth,
wide-eyed, wisdom-wearied,
wondering if things would ever be better,
wondering when the job would finally be done.

from The Woman With Wild-Grown Hair, poems by Nita Penfold, 1992

An Invalid Submitting a Petition to Napoleon (1838)

Horace Vernet: An Invalid Submitting a Petition to Napoleon 

at a Parade in the Courtyard of the Tuileries Palace

This painting was produced in July 1838 at the request of Emperor Nicholas I who suggested the subject and asked that the composition includes the episode with the invalid presenting a petition to Napoleon. "This paining will stay in my study. I want to have the Imperial Guard always before my eyes, because it could have smashed us," said Nicholas I, giving instructions on where the new painting was to hang in the Winter Palace. In all likelihood, the canvas depicts one of the parades of 1808 or 1809. It presents famous Napoleonic generals including Duroc and Lasalle, Lannes and Murat, Ney and Brune, Bessières and Berthier, Andoche Junot and Eugène Beauharnais, Mortier and Dorsenne, Combes and Lefevre. [Hermitage]

Silenus (1838)

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot: Silenus

In Greek mythology, Silenus was the companion and tutor of the god of wine, Dionysus - hence this bacchanalian scene. Silenus is usually depicted as old, plump, and drunk.

Portrait of Isaure Chassériau (1838)

Eugène Emmanuel Amaury-Duval: Portrait of Isaure Chassériau, 

Niece of the Artist, Daughter of Théodore Chassériau

While I suppose that technically there's nothing wrong with this painting, personally I don't care for it. There's a very antiseptic feel to it.

There's a page about the young lady in the portrait (in French) with the intriguing title "L'insolite destin d’une bien étrange demoiselle" ("The unusual fate of a strange lady").

The Battle of Zurich (1837)

François Bouchot: The Battle of Zurich, 25 September 1799 (central panel)

The Battle of Zurich in 1799 was a decisive victory for French Revolutionary forces over a combined Russian and Austrian army.

The Polar Bear Hunt (1838)

François Biard: The Polar Bear Hunt

François Biard traveled extensively, including to the arctic, which inspired a number of his paintings, including this dramatic scene. He was also an ardent advocate for the abolition of slavery.

Madame Legois (1838)

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot: Madame Legois 

(also known as Young Woman with Flowers in Her Lap)