Master of battle, historical and genre painting, the grandson of the sculptor-decorator Jean-Baptiste Bode-Charlemagne, moved to St. Petersburg the Empress Catherine II of Rouen, and the son of an architect, graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts. Received General education in school of the St. Petersburg Lutheran Church of St. Peter. In 1848 he entered the Academy, where he studied historical painting under the guidance of FA Bruni, and battle in the class BP Villevalde. In 1852 he received a silver medal for the sketch "the Cavalier in a Red Village" in 1853, a large silver medal for the painting "the Episode of the battle of Austerlitz," in 1854, a small gold medal for the execution of the competition program "Episode of the Hungarian campaign of 1848," and finally, in 1855, a gold medal for the painting "Suvorov at St. Gotthard". This award gave the young painter permission to travel to Germany as a pensioner of the Academy. In Munich, where, using the advice of the artist Alexander Kotzebue, he wrote of the work: "reception of Suvorov in Milan" and "the Last overnight Suvorov in Switzerland". For the second of these works Charlemagne in 1859, he was awarded the title of academician. During the next trip abroad, this time in Paris, Charlemagne studied their favorite style Pompadour for his designs of Versailles, visited Stuttgart and some other German cities and returned to St. Petersburg in 1861 Here his first work was naprestolny other way for Catholic churches in the corps of pages and the cemetery on the Vyborg side, then written ceiling and wall panel for the homes of Prince Meshchersky in Moscow and A. Polezhaeva in Saint-Petersburg. In 1867, the Charlemagne was the painting "Catherine II in the Studio Falcon", for which the artist was awarded the title of Professor. This painting was acquired by the Empress Maria Alexandrovna (the wife of Emperor Alexander III. Since that time, the fame of the artist became stronger and grew quickly. Under his brush, the pencil and the pen came out a lot of paintings, watercolors and drawings, executed with great taste. The composition of Charlemagne in more than twenty years in great demand were purchased by publishers of magazines. Since 1871 sh served as the artist with the expedition of storing state papers; in the same year he was invited to be a consultant in drawing workshops chief quartermaster control for the execution of watercolors of military scenes, celebrations, and other maneuvers in the albums of Emperor Alexander II, and in 1873 received the title of artist of His Imperial Majesty. From the works of Charlemagne, written by oil paints, in addition to the above, the most advanced technique and the depth of disclosure of the images are paintings of "Peter publicly announces the conclusion of peace with Sweden and Peter I in 1697 covers the conspirators in the house Cycler" (1884).
