What Is the Meaning Expressed in the Art of Napoleon Crossing the Saint Bernard

Serial of paintings by Jacques-Louis David

Napoleon Crossing the Alps
Artist	Jacques-Louis David
Year	1801
Medium	Oil on canvass
Dimensions	261 cm × 221 cm (102+ 1⁄3  in × 87 in)
Location	Château de Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison

Napoleon Crossing the Alps (as well known as Napoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass or Bonaparte Crossing the Alps ; listed every bit Le Premier Consul franchissant les Alpes au col du Grand Saint-Bernard ) is a serial of five oil on canvas equestrian portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte painted by the French artist Jacques-Louis David between 1801 and 1805. Initially commissioned by the Rex of Spain, the composition shows a strongly idealized view of the real crossing that Napoleon and his army made across the Alps through the Great St Bernard Pass in May 1800.

It has get i of the most usually reproduced images of Napoleon.

Groundwork [edit]

Having taken power in French republic during the eighteen Brumaire on 9 November 1799, Napoleon was adamant to return to Italy to reinforce the French troops in the state and retake the territory seized by the Austrians in the preceding years. In the spring of 1800 he led the Reserve Ground forces beyond the Alps through the Great St Bernard Laissez passer. The Austrian forces, under Michael von Melas, were laying siege to Masséna in Genoa and Napoleon hoped to proceeds the element of surprise past taking the trans-Alpine route. By the time Napoleon'due south troops arrived, Genoa had fallen; only he pushed ahead, hoping to engage the Austrians before they could regroup. The Reserve Army fought a battle at Montebello on nine June before eventually securing a decisive victory at the Boxing of Marengo.

The installation of Napoleon as First Delegate and the French victory in Italy for a rapprochement with Charles IV of Espana. While talks were underway to re-establish diplomatic relations, a traditional substitution of gifts took place. Charles received Versailles-manufactured pistols, dresses from the all-time Parisian dressmakers, jewels for the queen, and a fine ready of armour for the newly reappointed Prime Government minister, Manuel Godoy. In return Napoleon was offered 16 Castilian horses from the majestic stables, portraits of the king and queen past Goya, and the portrait that was to be commissioned from David. The French ambassador to Spain, Charles-Jean-Marie Alquier, requested the original painting from David on Charles' behalf. The portrait was to hang in the Royal Palace of Madrid equally a token of the new relationship between the two countries. David, who had been an agog supporter of the Revolution but had transferred his fervour to the new Consulate, was eager to undertake the commission.

On learning of the request, Bonaparte instructed David to produce iii further versions: one for the Château de Saint-Cloud, one for the library of Les Invalides, and a 3rd for the Royal Palace of Milan, capital of the Cisalpine Commonwealth. A fifth version was produced by David and remained in his various workshops until his death.

History of the five versions [edit]

The original painting remained in Madrid until 1812, when it was taken past Joseph Bonaparte after his abdication as Rex of Spain. He took it with him when he went into exile in the United States, and it hung at his Indicate Breeze estate almost Bordentown, New Jersey. The painting was handed downwardly through his descendants until 1949, when his great grandniece, Eugenie Bonaparte, bequeathed information technology to the museum of the Château de Malmaison.

The version produced for the Château de Saint-Cloud from 1801 was removed in 1814 by the Prussian soldiers under von Blücher who offered it to Frederick William 3 King of Prussia. It is now held in the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin.

The 1802 copy from Les Invalides was taken down and put into storage on the Bourbon Restoration of 1814; just in 1837, nether the orders of Louis-Philippe, information technology was rehung in his newly alleged museum at the Palace of Versailles, where information technology remains to the present day.

The 1803 version was delivered to Milan simply confiscated in 1816 past the Austrians. The people of Milan refused to give it upwardly and it remained in the city until 1825. It was finally installed at the Belvedere in Vienna in 1834. It remains there today, now part of the collection of the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere.

The version kept by David until his death in 1825 was exhibited at the Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle [fr] in 1846 (where it was remarked upon by Baudelaire). In 1850 it was offered to the hereafter Napoleon III by David'due south daughter, Pauline Jeanin, and installed at the Tuileries Palace. In 1979, it was given to the museum at the Palace of Versailles.

Paintings [edit]

The commission specified a portrait of Napoleon continuing in the compatible of the Showtime Consul, probably in the spirit of the portraits that were later produced by Antoine-Jean Gros, Robert Lefèvre (Napoleon in his coronation robes) and Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne), but David was slap-up to paint an equestrian scene. The Spanish ambassador, Ignacio Muzquiz, informed Napoleon and asked him how he would like to be represented. Napoleon initially requested to be shown reviewing the troops but eventually decided on a scene showing him crossing the Alps.

In reality the crossing had been made in fine weather and Bonaparte had been led across past a guide a few days later the troops, mounted on a mule.^[ane] Notwithstanding, from the outset the painting was first and foremost propaganda, and Bonaparte asked David to portray him "calm, mounted on a peppery steed" (Calme sur un cheval fougueux), and it is probable that he also suggested the add-on of the names of the other great generals who had led their forces across the Alps: Hannibal and Charlemagne.

Production [edit]

Few drafts and preparatory studies were made, opposite to David's normal practice. Gros, David's educatee, produced a pocket-size oil sketch of a horse being reined in, which was a probable study for Napoleon'southward mount, and the notebooks of David bear witness some sketches of first thoughts on the position of the rider. The lack of early studies may in function be explained by Bonaparte's refusal to sit down for the portrait. He had sat for Gros in 1796 on the insistence of Joséphine de Beauharnais, but Gros had complained that he had not had plenty time for the sitting to be of do good. David had also managed to persuade him to sit for a portrait in 1798, only the three hours that the antsy and impatient Bonaparte had granted him did not give him sufficient time to produce a decent likeness. On accepting the committee for the Alpine scene, information technology appears that David expected that he would exist sitting for the study, only Bonaparte refused point blank, non only on the basis that he disliked sitting but likewise because he believed that the painting should exist a representation of his character rather than his physical appearance:

— Sit down? For what good? Exercise y'all remember that the great men of Antiquity for whom we have images saturday?
— Only Denizen First Consul, I am painting you for your century, for the men who have seen you, who know you, they will want to notice a resemblance.
— A resemblance? It isn't the carefulness of the features, a wart on the nose which gives the resemblance. It is the character that dictates what must be painted...Nobody knows if the portraits of the great men resemble them, it is plenty that their genius lives in that location.^[2]

The refusal to attend a sitting marked a break in the portraiture of Napoleon in general, with realism abandoned for political iconography: after this point the portraits get allegorical, capturing an platonic rather than a physical likeness.

Unable to convince Napoleon to sit for the picture, David took a bust as a starting point for his features, and made his son perch on top of a ladder as a model for the posture. The compatible is more accurate, as David was able to borrow the compatible and bicorne worn by Bonaparte at Marengo. Two of Napoleon's horses were used equally models for the "peppery steed": the mare "la Belle" which features in the version held at Charlottenburg, and the famous grey Marengo which appears in those held at Versailles and Vienna. Engravings from Voyage pittoresque de la Suisse served as models for the landscape.

The first of the v portraits was painted in four months, from October 1800 to January 1801. On completion of the initial version, David immediately began piece of work on the second version which was finished on 25 May, the date of Bonaparte's inspection of the portraits at David's Louvre workshop.

Two of David's pupils assisted him in producing the different versions: Jérôme-Martin Langlois worked primarily on the first two portraits, and George Rouget produced the copy for Les Invalides.

Technique [edit]

In contrast to his predecessors François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard, who employed a ruddy or grey undercoat equally a base of operations colour to build up the painting, David used white groundwork of the canvass directly underneath his colours, every bit some of his unfinished works show, such as his get-go attempt at a portrait of Bonaparte or his sketch of the Tennis Court Oath.

David worked using two or 3 layers. After having captured the bones outline with an ochre cartoon, he would flesh out the painting with light touches, using a brush with petty pigment, and concentrating on the blocks of light and shade rather than the details. The results of this technique are particularly noticeable in the original version of Napoleon Crossing the Alps from Malmaison, especially in the treatment of the rump of the horse. With the second layer, David concentrated on filling out the details and correcting possible defects.

The 3rd and final layer was used for finishing touches:past blending of tones and smoothing the surface. David oftentimes left this task to his assistants.

Item [edit]

All 5 versions of the picture show are of roughly the aforementioned large size (2.6 1000 × ii.two m). Bonaparte appears mounted in the uniform of a general in chief, wearing a gold-trimmed bicorne, and armed with a Mamluk-style sabre. He is wreathed in the folds of a large cloak which billows in the wind. His head is turned towards the viewer, and he gestures with his right mitt toward the mountain meridian.^[ane] His left hand grips the reins of his steed. The equus caballus rears up on its back legs, its mane and tail whipped against its torso past the same wind that inflates Napoleon'due south cloak. In background a line of the soldiers interspersed with artillery make their way up the mountain. Dark clouds hang over the moving picture and in front end of Bonaparte the mountains rise up sharply. In the foreground BONAPARTE, HANNIBAL and KAROLVS MAGNVS IMP. are engraved on rocks. On the breastplate yoke of the horse, the picture is signed and dated.^[iii]

Differences betwixt the five versions [edit]

Detail of Napoleon in a golden cloak

In the original version held at Malmaison (260 × 221 cm; 102 i⁄3 × 87 in), Bonaparte has an orange cloak, the crispin (cuff) of his gauntlet is embroidered, the equus caballus is piebald, blackness and white, and the tack is complete and includes a Running Martingale. The girth around the horse's belly is a dark faded ruby. The officer holding a sabre in the background is obscured by the horse's tail. Napoleon's confront appears youthful. The painting is signed in the yoke of the breastplate: 50. DAVID Year IX.

The Charlottenburg version (260 × 226 cm; 102 1⁄iii × 89 in) shows Napoleon in a red cloak mounted on a anecdote horse. The tack is simpler, defective the martingale, and the girth is grey-blue. There are traces of snow on the ground. Napoleon's features are sunken with the faint hint of a grinning. The pic is signed 50.DAVID Year 9.

In the first Versailles version (272 × 232 cm; 107 × 91 one⁄3  in), the horse is a dappled grey, the tack is identical to that of the Charlottenburg version, and the girth is blueish. The embroidery of the gauntlet is simplified with the facing of the sleeve visible under the glove. The mural is darker and Napoleon's expression is sterner. The moving-picture show is non signed.

The version from the Belvedere (264 × 232 cm; 104 × 91 one⁄3  in) is nigh identical to that of Versailles simply is signed J.L.DAVID L.ANNO X.

The 2nd Versailles version (267 × 230 cm; 105 × 90 1⁄two  in) shows a blackness and white horse with complete tack but lacking the martingale. The girth is red. The cloak is orange-scarlet, the collar is black, and the embroidery of the gauntlet is very simple and almost unnoticeable. The scarf tied around Napoleon'due south waist is light blue. The officer with the sabre is once again masked by the tail of the horse. Napoleon's features are older, he has shorter pilus, and—as in the Charlottenburg version—at that place is the faint trace of a smile. The embroidery and the style of the bicorne propose that the moving-picture show was completed after 1804. The picture show is non dated but is signed L.DAVID.

Influences [edit]

After Napoleon's rise to ability and the victory at Marengo, the fashion was for emblematic portraits of Bonaparte, glorifying the new Main of France, such as Antoine-François Callet'due south Apologue of the Battle of Marengo, featuring Bonaparte dressed in Roman costume and flanked by winged symbols of victory, and Pierre Paul Prud'hon'due south Triumph of Bonaparte, featuring the First Consul in a chariot accompanied past winged figures. David chose symbolism rather than allegory. His effigy of Bonaparte is heroic and idealized but it lacks the physical symbols of allegorical painting.

True-blue to his want for a "render to the pure Greek" (retour vers le grec pur), David practical the radical neo-classicism that he had demonstrated in his 1799 The Intervention of the Sabine Women to the portrait of Bonaparte, with the use of contemporary costumes the but concession. The horse from the first version is about identical in posture and colouring to one featured in the melee of The Intervention of the Sabine Women.

The youthful figure of Bonaparte in the initial painting reflects the aesthetic of the "beautiful ideal" symbolized by the "Apollo Belvedere" and taken to its zenith in The Death of Hyacinthos by Jean Broc, one of David'south pupils. The figure of the beautiful young homo which David had already painted in La Mort du jeune Bara is also present in The Intervention of the Sabine Women. The youthful posture of David's son, forced into posing for the artist by Bonaparte's refusal to sit down, is evident in the attitude of the Napoleon portrayed in the painting; with his legs folded like the Greek riders, the youthful figure evokes the young Alexander the Keen mounted on Bucephalus as seen on his sarcophagus (now in the archaeological museum of Istanbul).

For the horse, David takes every bit a starting point the equestrian statue of Peter the Slap-up, The Bronze Horseman by Étienne Maurice Falconet in St. petersburg, duplicating the at-home treatment of a rearing equus caballus on rocky ground. There are also hints of Titus in The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by Nicolas Poussin, a painter who strongly influenced David's work. The horses of the Greek statuary which appear many times in David's notebooks point to the bas-reliefs of the Parthenon as a source of inspiration.

Particular of the gesture in the Malmaison version.

Reception [edit]

The first ii copies were exhibited in the Louvre in June 1801 aslope The Intervention of the Sabine Women, and although there was an outcry in the press over the purchase, the painting apace became well known as a event of the numerous reproductions that were produced, the prototype appearing everywhere from posters to postage stamps. It apace became the almost reproduced paradigm of Napoleon.

With this work David took the genre of the equestrian portraiture to its zenith. No other equestrian portrait made nether Napoleon gained such celebrity, with peradventure the exception of Théodore Géricault's The Charging Chasseur of 1812.

With Bonaparte's exile in 1815 the portraits brutal out of manner, just past the tardily 1830s they were once once more existence hung in the fine art galleries and museums.

Delaroche's version [edit]

Arthur George, 3rd Earl of Onslow, who had a large Napoleonic collection, was visiting the Louvre with Paul Delaroche in 1848 and commented on the implausibility and theatricality of David's painting. He commissioned Delaroche to produce a more accurate version which featured Napoleon on a mule; the final painting, Bonaparte Crossing the Alps, was completed in 1850. While Delaroche'due south painting is more realistic than the symbolic heroic representation of David, it was not meant to exist demeaning - Delaroche admired Bonaparte and thought that the achievement was non diminished by depicting information technology in a realistic manner.

The Black Brunswicker [edit]

John Everett Millais also used the image to contrast David's theatrical rhetoric with a naturalistic scenario in his painting The Black Brunswicker, in which a print of the painting hangs on the wall of a room in which one of the Brunswickers who fought at the Boxing of Quatre Bras prepares to go out his sweetheart to bring together the fight against Napoleon.

The Blackness Brunswicker (1860)

Citations [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b} Pollitt, Ben. "David'southward Napoleon Crossing the Alps". Smarthistory. Khan Academy. Retrieved xviii January 2013.
2. ^

   — Poser ? à quoi bon ? croyez-vous que les grands hommes de fifty'Antiquité dont nous avons les images aient posé ?
   — Mais citoyen premier delegate je vous peins cascade votre siècle, pour des hommes qui vous ont vu, qui vous connaissent, ils voudront vous trouver ressemblant.
   — Ressemblant ? Ce n'est pas l'exactitude des traits, un petit pois sur le nez qui font la ressemblance. C'est le caractère de la physionomie ce qui fifty'anime qu'il faut peindre. [...] Personne ne s'informe si les portraits des grands hommes sont ressemblants, il suffit que leur génie y vive.

3. ^ For some other example of David's inclusion of the signature and engagement every bit part of the painting see The Death of Marat.

Full general references [edit]

• Dominique-Vivant Denon, Vivant Denon, Directeur des musées sous le Consulat et 50'Empire, Correspondance, two vol. , Réunion des Musées nationaux, Paris, 1999 (in French)
• Antoine Schnapper (commissaire de l'exposition), David 1748–1825 catalogue de l'exposition Louvre-Versailles, Réunion des Musées nationaux, Paris, 1989 ISBN 2-7118-2326-1 (in French)
• Daniel et Guy Wildenstein, Document complémentaires au catalogue de fifty'œuvre de Louis David, Fondation Wildenstein, Paris, 1973. (in French)

External links [edit]

• David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps at khanacademy.org

artisschimsomine.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Crossing_the_Alps