France had just endured another civil revolt, that of the July Revolution of 1830, which ended the Bourbon dynasty. The Arch of Triumph had been commissioned by Napoleon in 1806, to commemorate his military victories, but the work still continued until 1835. Napoleon had finally lost all power in 1815, and so the images of heroism in the sculpture do not refer directly to the Emperor, but rather to soldiers of antiquity who are being led by the allegorical character of Victory.
