10 Most Famous Napoleon Paintings

Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French armed forces and political commander who came to prominence during the French Revolutionary Wars and conducted numerous victorious operations.

From 1799 until 1804, he served equally the de facto head of the France every bit Kickoff Consul. Napoleon I reigned as Emperor of France from 1804 until 1814, and and then over again in 1815.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon controlled European and global events for more than a decade while leading France confronting a succession of alliances. He won the great majority of these wars and conflicts, establishing a massive empire that dominated over continental Europe until its eventual collapse in 1815.

There are numerous paintings of Napoleon Bonaparte that depict significant historical events in his life. Yet, the beingness of whatever portraits of Napoleon is unexpected, considering he near never voluntarily posed for a artist.

In fact, he was infamous for hating to pose and idea that paintings should reflect his personality more than his physical appearance.

Famous Napoleon Paintings

i. Napoleon Crossing the Alps – Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David is regarded as 1 of the most well-known Neoclassical painters, having produced several works depicting major political and cultural leaders.

David is well known for his Napoleonic series of paintings, which he started in 1801. Napoleon's legendary overland march over the Alps, i of the world'southward most hazardous mount ranges, was commemorated by the works.

The commander was able to guide his forces via the tight passages that wound their mode around the snow-capped summits in order to reinforce his troops stationed in Italian republic at the fourth dimension.

At the time, the action was regarded as ane of the nigh daring and ingenious military plans in recent memory, and David was tasked with creating a few pieces to commemorate the achievement.

two. The Coronation of Napoleon – Jacques-Louis David

The Crowning of Napoleon is a picture by Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon's official painter, showing Napoleon's coronation at Notre-Matriarch de Paris, finished in 1807.

The oil painting is almost ten metres (33 feet) wide by little over half-dozen metres (20 anxiety) alpine, with a width of over ten metres (33 anxiety). The piece is on exhibit at Paris'due south Louvre Museum.

Napoleon verbally deputed the work in September 1804, and David began working on it on December 21, 1805, at the disused chapel of the College of Cluny, most the Sorbonne, which acted as a workshop. In January 1808, he completed the piece of work with the help of his pupil Georges Rouget.

3. Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne – Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne is a motion picture of Napoleon I of France created past the French painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres in his coronation garb in 1806.

Napoleon is shown as Emperor, sitting on a circular-backed throne with ivory ball-encrusted armrests, in the outfit he wore during his coronation. He wields the sceptre of Charlemagne in his right paw and the hand of justice in his left.

A golden laurel wreath, identical to Caesar's, adorns his head. Under the Légion d'honneur'south magnificent collar, he wears an ermine hood, a gold-embroidered satin tunic, and an ermine-lined purple velvet cloak with aureate bees. The coronation sword is safely stowed in its scabbard, which is secured in place past a silk scarf.

4. The Emperor Napoleon in His Report at the Tuileries – Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David completed The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries in 1812. Information technology depicts Napoleon I of France in uniform in his study at the Tuileries Palace. Despite the meticulous attention to detail, Napoleon is unlikely to have posed for the photo.

It has a vertical format and depicts Napoleon continuing iii-quarters life size in the Imperial Baby-sit Foot Grenadiers costume (blue with white facings and reddish cuffs).

He also sports gilt epaulettes, white French-style culottes, and white stockings, as well as his Légion d'honneur and Society of the Iron Crown insignia. His right hand is in his jacket and his face is turned to the spectator.

It was commissioned in 1811 by Alexander Hamilton, 10th Knuckles of Hamilton, a Scottish blueblood and Napoleon fan, and finished in 1812.

Originally shown at Hamilton Palace, it was sold in 1882 to Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, from whom it was purchased by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1954, who donated it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it currently hangs.

5. Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa – Antoine-Jean Gros

The pic Bonaparte Visits the Plague Stricken at Jaffa was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte and painted past Antoine-Jean Gros in 1804. It depicts an episode during the French conquest of Egypt.

The image depicts Napoleon at a dramatic moment that is said to have taken identify in Jaffa on March 11, 1799, representing the French commander visiting his sick troops at the Armenian Saint Nicholas Monastery.

During his retreat from his Syrian campaign, Napoleon ordered fifty plague victims in Jaffa to exist given mortiferous doses of opium.

The committee was an effort to embellish Bonaparte's mythology and suppress accusations that he had ordered l plague victims in Jaffa to be given fatal doses of opium.

Information technology also worked every bit a propaganda tool in the face of tales of French atrocities committed during the occupation of Jaffa.

6. War. The Exile and the Rock Limpet – J. Grand. West. Turner

J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) created War. The Exile and the Rock Limpet in 1842. War is a painting that portrays a scene during Napoleon Bonaparte's exile at Saint Helena, and was intended to be a companion work to Turner's Peace – Burial at Sea.

Napoleon was transferred to Longwood House, despite its condition of decay, by the British government in December 1815 to live in captivity; during his terminal years in confinement, Napoleon had plunged into despair.

Napoleon Bonaparte, who had been defeated decisively at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, had fallen into British hands after pondering a push for an escape to the Usa at the end of his Hundred Days.

The former Emperor was banished to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic in December and placed under surveillance at the Longwood Business firm, where he suffered from horrible living circumstances. Napoleon spent his last days in Saint Helena, without whatsoever realistic possibility of escaping, until his decease in 1821.

7. The Distribution of the Eagle Standards – Jacques-Louis David

The Distribution of the Eagle Standards is an oil painting by Jacques-Louis David from 1810 that depicts Napoleon's armed services ceremonial in 1804 after bold ability as Emperor of French republic. Napoleon used the ritual to reintroduce the Roman Empire'southward military culture.

On the fifth of Dec 1804, iii days later Napoleon's coronation, the portrayed incident occurred. He distributed "eagles" modeled afterwards the Roman aquila used past the Roman soldiers.

The standards symbolized the regiments established by the several districts of French republic, and they were designed to instill pride and devotion among the warriors who would class the courage of Napoleon'south new administration.

Napoleon delivered an impassioned address in which he emphasized the importance of warriors fighting for the standards with their life.

8. Bonaparte, First Consul – Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' painting Bonaparte, Starting time Delegate depicts Napoleon Bonaparte equally First Delegate in 1804. In paintings of monarchs, posing the hand inside the waistcoat was common to evidence at-home and steady leadership.

The movie was commissioned by the city of Liège when Ingres was 23 years old. He couldn't persuade Bonaparte to sit for it, and so he had to make do with a painting of him by Antoine-Jean Gros from 1802. The Bonaparte of Ingres' flick is 34 years quondam and preparing to sign an act named "Faubourg d'Amercur rebâti" (Amercur suburb rebuilt).

This edict alludes to one issued by Napoleon in 1803 to the prefecture of the Ourthe département to rebuild this suburb, and it is an endeavour to show to the newly captured city the advantages of being a part of French republic while also symbolically reclaiming the metropolis.

nine. Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole – Antoine-Jean Gros

Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole is a 1796 painting past Antoine-Jean Gros depicting General Napoleon Bonaparte leading his forces to attack the span during the Battle of Arcole in November 1796.

The picture depicts Bonaparte as a iii-quarter-length figure carrying the Armée d'Italie flagstaff in his left hand and his sword in his right, with the inscription Bonaparte, Armée d'Italie on its blade.

He wears the nighttime blue pants and tunic of a Showtime French Republic general, complete with a gilded-embroidered crimson collar. He's dressed in a white shirt and a black neck-scarf underneath them. A gold-fringed tricolor cummerbund and a foursquare-buckled belt with his empty scabbard consummate his ensemble.

With a few homes in the distance to the left, the backdrop implies war smoke. A flaming missive may yet exist seen on the terrain adjoining the river, which is painted in night tones.

ten. Bonaparte Crossing the Alps –Paul Delaroche

Bonaparte Crossing the Alps (sometimes known as Napoleon Crossing the Alps, despite the presence of Jacques-Louis David'southward more than well-known moving-picture show of the aforementioned name, described to a higher place) is a French artist Paul Delaroche'due south 1848–1850 oil-on-sail portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The flick portrays Napoleon riding a mule over the Alps with his army, a trek Napoleon and his army took in the jump of 1800 in an effort to surprise the Austrian army in Italia.

Jacques-Louis David's series of 5 Napoleon Crossing the Alps paintings (1801–1805) served as inspiration for the piece. Napoleon's trek across the Great St. Bernard Pass is as well shown in David's paintings, although there are considerable artistic variances between the ii ideas.

Delaroche's Napoleon is icy and despondent, while David'due south Napoleon is immaculately dressed and adored as a hero. Delaroche was asked to paint a realistic portrait in the manner that was becoming popularity at the moment.

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Source: https://www.artst.org/napoleon-paintings/

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