Coup de grâce Coup de grâce A coup de grâce (; French for "blow of mercy") is a death blow to end the suffering of a severely wounded person or animal. It may be a mercy killing of civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies, with or without the sufferer's consent. Examples of "coup de grâce" include shooting the heart or head (typically the back of the skull) of a wounded, but still living, person during an execution or by humanely killing a suffering, mortally wounded soldier, in war, for whom medical aid is not available. In pre-firearms eras the wounded were finished with
The Wounded Cuirassier generally created several drafts before settling on a final design, there do not seem to be any paintings of his that could be considered precursors to this painting. Only his "Signboard of a Hoofsmith", which is currently in a private collection, bears any resemblance in form or function to this painting. The two known copies of the painting are at the Musée du Louvre and at the Brooklyn Museum. The Wounded Cuirassier The Wounded Cuirassier () is an oil painting of a single anonymous soldier descending a slope with his horse by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault