Pictures of Napoleon 2
Mar. 24th, 2025 08:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo J-D Ingres was David's most distinguished pupil and his icon (that really is the right word) of Napoleon as first Consul is stupendous. The pose derives from the lost statue of Zeus by Phidias and the props Napoleon is holding are associated with Charlemagne. It's a big painting- and my reaction on coming face to face with it was a combination of "Oh wow!" and "This is too, too silly!"
A-J Gros was introduced to Napoleon by his friend Josephine de Beauharnais- and presumably saw more of him up close than any other artist. He specialised in big figure compositions that are part propaganda and part reportage. His picture of Napoleon visiting plague-stricken soldiers at Jaffa and reaching out fearlessly to touch a sick man just as Christ might have done documents an incident that hadn't happened yet. When Napoleon did finally get round to visiting a pest house he ordered its inmates be euthanised with laudanum- an act of mercy that is open to misinterpretation
Eylau was one of the bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic wars- a slogging match between the French and the Russians that was fought to a standstill in the snow. Gros pictures Napoleon instructing his doctors to treat the wounded of both armies.
While clearly propagandist it is also one of the most realistic battle pictures painted up to this time. Gros had seen war- and there's a man in the foreground who is very dead indeed.
A-J Gros was introduced to Napoleon by his friend Josephine de Beauharnais- and presumably saw more of him up close than any other artist. He specialised in big figure compositions that are part propaganda and part reportage. His picture of Napoleon visiting plague-stricken soldiers at Jaffa and reaching out fearlessly to touch a sick man just as Christ might have done documents an incident that hadn't happened yet. When Napoleon did finally get round to visiting a pest house he ordered its inmates be euthanised with laudanum- an act of mercy that is open to misinterpretation
Eylau was one of the bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic wars- a slogging match between the French and the Russians that was fought to a standstill in the snow. Gros pictures Napoleon instructing his doctors to treat the wounded of both armies.
While clearly propagandist it is also one of the most realistic battle pictures painted up to this time. Gros had seen war- and there's a man in the foreground who is very dead indeed.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-24 09:14 pm (UTC)A-J Gros autoportrait: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Antoine_Jean_Gros%2C_Autoportrait%2C_1795.jpg
In 1803 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres received a prestigious commission, being one of five artists selected (along with Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Robert Lefèvre, Charles Meynier, and Marie-Guillemine Benoist) to paint full-length portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul. These were to be distributed to the prefectural towns of Liège, Antwerp, Dunkerque, Brussels, and Ghent, all of which were newly ceded to France in the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville.[17] Napoleon is not known to have granted the artists a sitting, and Ingres's meticulously painted portrait of Bonaparte, First Consul appears to be modelled on an image of Napoleon painted by Antoine-Jean Gros in 1802.
Ingres painted a new portrait of Napoleon for presentation at the Salon of 1806, this one showing Napoleon on the Imperial Throne for his coronation. This painting was entirely different from his earlier portrait of Napoleon as First Consul; it concentrated almost entirely on the lavish imperial costume that Napoleon had chosen to wear, and the symbols of power he held. The scepter of Charles V, the sword of Charlemagne the rich fabrics, furs and capes, crown of gold leaves, golden chains and emblems were all presented in extremely precise detail; the Emperor's face and hands were almost lost in the majestic costume.
At the Salon, his paintings—Self-Portrait, portraits of the Rivière family, and Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne—received a very chilly reception. David delivered a severe judgement, and the critics were hostile. Chaussard (Le Pausanias Français, 1806) praised "the fineness of Ingres's brushwork and the finish", but condemned Ingres's style as gothic and asked: "How, with so much talent, a line so flawless, an attention to detail so thorough, has M. Ingres succeeded in painting a bad picture? The answer is that he wanted to do something singular, something extraordinary ... M. Ingres's intention is nothing less than to make art regress by four centuries, to carry us back to its infancy, to revive the manner of Jean de Bruges".
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres self-portrait: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Jean-Auguste-Dominique_Ingres%2C_Self-Portrait%2C_1822%2C_NGA_93063.jpg/1024px-Jean-Auguste-Dominique_Ingres%2C_Self-Portrait%2C_1822%2C_NGA_93063.jpg