Aigle blessé, Protected heritage monument in Lasne, Belgium

L'Aigle blessé is a bronze eagle by Jean-Léon Gérôme, cast by Siot, standing on a blue-stone pedestal within a square iron enclosure. The eagle raises a wing pierced by shrapnel and grips a flag in one talon. The pedestal, designed by Henri-Paul Nénot, bears the inscription "AUX / DERNIERS COMBATTANTS DE LA GRANDE ARMÉE". A horizontal stele by Émile Richard stands at the foot.

The historian Henry Houssaye, with Count Albert de Mauroy and Gustave Larronet, bought a 100 m² plot and offered it to the military society La Sabretache, which raised funds for the memorial. Inaugurated on 28 June 1904 before over 100,000 spectators, it was the first monument to honour the French soldiers of 1815. The sculptor Jean-Léon Gérôme died a few months before the unveiling.

The monument honours the "Dernier Carré", the last French square that held at Waterloo; no memorial to the French fighters of 1815 existed before it. Its wrought-iron fence alternates Napoleon's initial "N" with the grenadiers' emblem, and a bronze palm on the side carries a 1918 dedication by the 46th Alpine Chasseurs Division, whose plaque disappeared in June 2021.

The monument stands along the N5, the chaussée de Charleroi, in Lasne, about 1,500 m south-east of the Lion's Mound and 200 m south of La Belle-Alliance, almost facing the Victor Hugo column. It is set in a square enclosure with an wrought-iron fence, so it is seen from the roadside; the bronze plaque on its side went missing in June 2021.

The artist Jean-Léon Gérôme was primarily known for his paintings, making this sculpture an unexpected work from his career. The choice to depict a wounded eagle was an unusual form of artistic expression for him.