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Topic outline

 

  • Time: 16 hours
    Level: Intermediate

 
 

Introduction

  • Introduction Resource
  • If you visit the Louvre museum in Paris and choose the route leading to the Denon wing, you will find on the first floor two vast galleries, the Daru room and the Mollien room, devoted to late eighteenth-...
 

1 Paintings at the Louvre

  • 1.1 The state as patron Resource
  • Most of the history paintings in the Daru and Mollien rooms have been in the Louvre, a royal palace that was turned into a museum in 1793, since the nineteenth century. Many of them were commissioned by...
 

2 The portrait of Napoleon

  • The general Resource
  • Even early on, when he was a brilliant young general winning battles in Italy, Napoleon was already well aware of the value of images in promoting his career. It was not only owing to his own initiative...
  • Hero or great man? Resource
  • Read the following passage from the Encydopédie article ‘Hero’, considering what qualities identify the hero as opposed to the great man. Which type of man seems to owe more to innate talent and genius?...
  • The military leader Resource
  • Let us now consider another relatively early portrait, David's Bonaparte Crossing the Alps, in which the then First Consul is shown at the Great Saint Bernard at the start of the campaign which led to...
  • The First Consul Resource
  • Look at Gros's Bonaparte as First Consul of 1802 (see Plate 11). How does it differ from the previous portraits of Napoleon we have looked at? What kind of claims does it make on his behalf? Consider the...
  • The emperor Resource
  • With Napoleon's coronation as emperor in 1804, a new type of official image was once again required. Portraits of the emperor in his ceremonial robes were commissioned from several established artists;...
  • The portrayal of traditional symbols of power Resource
  • Napoleon on his Imperial Throne is crammed with traditional symbols of power. The sceptre surmounted by a statuette, the other sceptre (the ‘hand of justice’) and the sword all had associations...
  • Legitimating the regime Resource
  • The failure of Ingres's painting is revealing of the problems of political legitimation faced by the regime. If it was difficult to justify the authority of a ruler who had seized power, it was even harder...
 

3 Gros and the Napoleonic propaganda machine

  • The limits of propaganda Resource
  • Although portraits of Napoleon were manufactured on a large scale and distributed widely, they could only act as propaganda for the regime up to a certain point. Given the institutional circumstances sketched...
  • The propaganda function of Jaffa Resource
  • When Jaffa was exhibited in 1804, it was greeted with great acclaim and would thus seem to have fulfilled the propaganda purpose for which it was intended. Like The Battle of Nazareth, it deals with the...
  • The use of religious imagery Resource
  • What is paradoxical about this painting is that, while Bonaparte is ostensibly presented here as the exponent of rational values, the impression that it conveys is not so much of a modern secular leader...
  • Editing out warfare Resource
  • It is important to note that the requirements of propaganda usually required the editing out of any too explicit reference to the violence of warfare. Thus, for example, though the commission for The Battle...
  • Napoleon Visiting the Field of the Battle of Eylau Resource
  • Napoleonic propaganda painting was very tightly controlled. In 1806, for example, the list of subjects was devised by Denon in consultation with Napoleon. The exact moment to be depicted was specified...
  • Supporting Napoleon's bulletins Resource
  • The scene broadly accords with Napoleon's bulletins, which similarly focus on the Russian casualties and, in expressing sorrow at the horrors of the battlefield, imply that the blame lies with other leaders:...
 

4 The Decennial Competition of 1810

  • Inspiring loyalty to the leader Resource
  • Official support for painting was motivated not simply by propaganda concerns but also by the belief that artistic achievements were crucial indicators of a regime's greatness. Part of the logic behind...
  • Purpose of the Decennial Competition Resource
  • These tensions came to a head in the Decennial Competition of 1810, which was intended to reward the major artistic achievements of the decade since Napoleon came to power. Prizes were offered for the...
 

5 Conclusion

  • 5 Conclusion Resource
  • The great advantage of history painting as a form of propaganda was that it could appear to be nothing of the kind. Whereas an official portrait of Napoleon fairly obviously served to focus loyalty towards...
 

References and Acknowledgements

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