Napoleon Bonaparte - the great French emperor, whose coronation took place on December 2, 1804.
Jacques-Louis David in the Revolutionary Period
An event of this magnitude could not go unnoticed, and Napoleon, several months before the coronation, commissioned a painting reflecting the greatness of this action from the artist Jacques-Louis David.
David is a representative of classicism in French painting. He participated in the revolutionary movement and advocated the overthrow of King Louis XVI. He created a number of paintings on revolutionary topics: “The Death of Marat”, “Oath in the ballroom”. Around the same time, he founded the National Museum in the Louvre.
'' Coronation of Napoleon '' - a picture of David, located at the moment in the Louvre, and all visitors to the museum can see it. Actually, the original name of the canvas is “Dedication of Emperor Napoleon I and the crowning of Empress Josephine in Notre Dame de Paris on December 2, 1804”, but the shortened version is more often used in everyday life.
The artist accepted the offer of Napoleon with great joy, as he was his adherent and completely shared the views of the future emperor. Moreover, after the death of Robespierre, he longed for a new round of his work.
Preparation for the coronation of Napoleon I
Napoleon was famous for his love for Caesars and the Roman Empire as a whole, therefore he wanted to carry out his ascension to the throne in accordance with his own tastes.
The coronation in the style of Ancient Rome was preceded by global preparation, and the venue of the ceremony was the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, which was quickly rebuilt after the consequences of the recent revolution, and also decorated in the spirit of the ancient empire.
The 'Coronation of Napoleon' became the peak of the master's work and contributed to the renewal of classicism through realism.
Canvas of David
All figures on the canvas are carefully designed, so that all the characters are well recognizable. In addition, the artist clearly demonstrated his attitude to certain aspects, which are clearly criticized by the painter and to some extent give disrespect.
In the picture `` The Coronation of Napoleon '', Jacques-Louis David tried to convey all the events of this ceremony.
For example, the religious atmosphere of the whole procedure, luxury and pomp, and the Pope himself, dressed in gold and with a smug look on his face, do not create an atmosphere of spirituality at all, but rather are a mockery. This is the main disrespect. Since David was revolutionary, he portrayed Notre Dame as a gathering place for amateurs, and not as the temple of the Lord.
When the emperor saw the finished painting, he demanded that the painter change the scene where the Pope was sitting with an absent look, with his hands folded in his lap. Napoleon’s argument was very clear: he didn’t make the servant of God come from such a distance so that he would do nothing.
Classic Realism of David
Napoleon himself was a representative of the petty bourgeoisie, and his appearance in a chic royal robe alone should have caused ridicule, but the painter was able to smooth out this fact, emphasizing the masculinity and grandeur of his posture.
The future empress Josephine had a very notorious reputation, but her husband demanded that she be crowned, despite the fact that not a single queen was awarded such an honor. To hush up this fact, David portrayed a woman's humility, paying particular attention to her external beauty.
On the eve of the emergence of a new imperial regime in France, David's realism gives away some caricatured orientation. Some critics see these manifestations in the image of the entire ceremony. Possessing a critical mind, David could have done so if something did not suit him, despite his sympathy for the new leader.
Although David attended the ceremony and did some preparatory sketches, the picture is not a wholly reflective of real events. The artist made some adjustments. A vivid example is the image of the emperor’s mother, majestically settled between two central columns in the background. After all, in fact, she was not present at the coronation of her son, but was at that time in Rome. On the canvas, she casts Napoleon a worried, sad look.
You can notice another distortion of reality. In the picture, the ruler is depicted with a laurel wreath on his head, while in reality he removed it to put on the crown. Many believed that the wreath suits the emperor more than the crown, therefore, after some hesitation, David gave preference to him.
If the artist followed reality, he should have depicted Napoleon at the feet of the Pope, and set Josephine even lower. However, knowing the difficult relationship between the ruler and the representative of the clergy, he abandoned this idea.
Therefore, David stopped at the coronation of the Empress Napoleon.
The master also paid tribute to the image of the grandeur of the architectural structure. This can be traced through numerous vertical axes - three columns, an altar with tall candles.
The main characters of the picture
The picture depicts from 153 to 200 people, but not all of them are identifiable. However, the following characters are unmistakably recognized:
- Cardinal Fesh, Cardinal Caprara, the Greek patriarch who settled around Pius VII;
- the princes of Neuchatel and Ponte Corvo, the French Chancellor, the Viceroy of Italy, Prince Murat and the three marshals - they made up a group of emperor officers, on each head with a hat with feathers;
- brothers and sisters of Napoleon, maids of honor, princesses, constituting the empress’s retinue;
- turned towards the viewer mother of Napoleon, Madame Su, Madame de Fontanges, Monsieur de Cosse-Brissac, Monsieur de Laville and General Boumont.
Finishing work on the picture
In 1807, work on the painting `` The Coronation of Napoleon '' was completed. Napoleon examined the canvas for about an hour, after which he enthusiastically exclaimed that David had done an excellent job and created the right role for the emperor. Subsequently, the picture was put on public display, which gave it considerable popularity.
`` The Coronation of Napoleon '' (the year of a remarkable event is indicated at the beginning of the article) pleased the Parisians throughout the year. It is noteworthy that for his work, David asked for only one hundred thousand francs, which caused a lot of controversy with the imperial `` accounting '', which found a lot of reasons not to issue a fee.
The painting `` Coronation of Napoleon '' (the date of the beginning of work on the canvas - December 21, 1805, completion - January 1808) was the greatest creation of its author.