{"id":49001,"date":"2023-11-30T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/?p=49001"},"modified":"2024-04-15T07:30:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T11:30:11","slug":"napoleon-david-historical-painting-vs-historical-accuracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2023\/11\/napoleon-david-historical-painting-vs-historical-accuracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Napoleon & David: Historical Painting vs. Historical Accuracy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"On<\/a>

The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries<\/em> by Jacques-Louis David (detail, left); Self-Portrait<\/em> by Jacques-Louis David (right)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ridley Scott\u2019s latest historical epic film <\/span>Napoleon<\/span><\/i>, released in the US and UK on November 22nd, tries to tell the story of the Corsican-born French artillery general who ascended to rule most of Continental Europe for over a decade. Though Ridley Scott has drawn controversy with <\/span>his comments on historical accuracy in filmmaking<\/span><\/a>, the legendary British director did use several very well-known historical texts to craft some of the scenes for the film. We don\u2019t often think of paintings as historical texts, but they very much are. And Jacques-Louis David’s depictions of Napoleon are very valuable documents indeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The relationship between Jacques-Louis David and Napoleon Bonaparte is an incredibly interesting one. Napoleon was already known for his military campaigns in Italy when he met the neoclassicist painter. Meanwhile, David\u2019s reputation needed some rehabilitation at the time since, on top of being a well-known artist, he was a political revolutionary who served as a member of the Committee of General Security. This body, along with the Committee of Public Safety, were the two groups that organized and carried out the Reign of Terror, resulting in thousands of people being executed by the guillotine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>

Napoleon at the St. Bernard Pass<\/em> by Jacques-Louis David<\/p><\/div>\n

Napoleon understood that painters, particularly neoclassical artists like David, could be very useful. Napoleon sought to legitimize himself by crafting an image tying himself to old power structures, particularly the ethos and the imagery of the Roman Empire. To strengthen ties with France in 1801, King Charles IV of Spain commissioned David to commemorate Napoleon\u2019s recent victory over the Austrians by creating a Roman-inspired equestrian portrait of him crossing the Alps at the St. Bernard Pass. Other artists like Paul Delaroche would later create <\/span>more realistic depictions of the crossing<\/span><\/a>, where Napoleon braved the high Alpine pass atop a mule led by a local peasant guide. However, David showed Bonaparte <\/span>atop a stallion rearing up on its hind legs<\/span>. Napoleon, resplendent in his military regalia, remains calm despite the gray storm clouds in the background and the wild look in his horse\u2019s eye. Below the hoofs of his steed are names carved into the rock, documenting those great leaders who had made such journeys before, including Hannibal and Charlemagne. The name of Bonaparte is freshly carved right alongside them. While he did not commission the portrait, Napoleon understood the value of such an image. He ordered David to create several versions of the work, which would later hang at palaces in Paris, Madrid, and Milan to project Napoleon\u2019s power. When Bonaparte became Emperor of the French in 1804, Jacques-Louis David became the official court painter.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his official capacity as court painter, David created one of his most monumental works: <\/span>The Coronation of Napoleon<\/span><\/i>. The canvas is absolutely enormous, measuring just over 20 feet by 32 feet, making the figures almost life-size. It is currently one of the largest paintings on display at the Louvre in Paris. Ridley Scott made a concerted effort to recreate Napoleon\u2019s coronation by drawing directly from David\u2019s canvas. Despite the name, the painting does not actually show the moment of Napoleon\u2018s coronation. Rather, it shows another point in the ceremony when Napoleon crowned his wife Jos\u00e9phine as his Empress. Over a hundred people populate the background, most of whose likenesses David made sure to recreate, including Napoleon\u2019s siblings, members of his inner circle like Talleyrand and Murat, and Pope Pius VII, who extends his hand in benediction to bless the new emperor\u2019s reign.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the work\u2019s accuracy in showing the many dignitaries in their robes and jewels, there are still features of the work that differ from the event’s reality. For instance, Jos\u00e9phine is shown as far younger than she really was at the time. She was 41 years old, six years older than her husband. This has, in fact, been one of the major points of criticism directed at Scott\u2019s film. While Vanessa Kirby is a phenomenal actress, casting Jos\u00e9phine as a younger woman contradicts one of the defining aspects of Napoleon and Jos\u00e9phine\u2019s marriage. Given her age, Jos\u00e9phine could not have any more children, leading to the couple\u2019s later divorce. Furthermore, in the slightly elevated gallery in the painting’s background, Napoleon\u2018s mother, Maria Letizia, is placed in the direct center of the painting. However, Napoleon\u2018s mother was not in attendance. A rift had grown between her and her ambitious sons, leading to her missing the coronation. Similarly, Napoleon\u2019s brother Joseph also refused to attend, yet he also appears in David\u2019s painting. Of course, having a united family and a young wife ready to produce an heir were both images Napoleon sought to project through the coronation painting. This projection extends itself into Scott’s film, which seems to have remained more faithful to David\u2019s work than the historical record. The film’s coronation scene is portrayed as depicted in the famous painting, with Napoleon\u2019s mother and a much younger Jos\u00e9phine to match. Even David himself briefly appears, sketching away at an easel to capture the moment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

The Coronation of Napoleon<\/em> by Jacques-Louis David<\/p><\/div>\n

Until Ridley Scott\u2019s movie, for me, the defining depiction of Napoleon in film or television was in the 2002 miniseries <\/span>Napol\u00e9on<\/span><\/i>. The French actor Christian Clavier plays the emperor, while Jos\u00e9phine is played by the great Italian actress Isabella Rossellini. Like Scott’s movie, the miniseries also tries to show Napoleon\u2019s coronation, seemingly trying to recreate David\u2019s work. However, while the 2023 movie leans into Jacques-Louis David\u2019s propaganda to capture a sense of grandeur and majesty, the 2002 miniseries has an incredibly interesting moment after the coronation scene. Napoleon appears in David\u2019s workshop, with <\/span>The Coronation of Napoleon<\/span><\/i> taking up the entire wall. Napoleon marvels at David’s accuracy in the likenesses of the individual figures present in the work. He notices that his mother is not depicted, prompting David to remind him that his mother refused to attend. The emperor points to the middle of the canvas and says, \u201cHere. Paint her right here. Make her easy to see. Give her a beautiful dress and see that she looks radiant.\u201d The 2023 film also had a moment in David’s studio after the coronation, but by that point, the characters’ minds were elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Ridley Scott film certainly had the bigger budget to provide audiences with better effects, better costumes, better cinematography, and so on, it was a made-for-TV miniseries from over twenty years ago that captured the essence of Napoleon. Ridley Scott gives us the spectacle of Jacques-Louis David\u2019s work but fails to show us how aware Napoleon was of his image and how egotistical he was. <\/span>That is not to say that Ridley Scott\u2019s Napoleon is humble. Lines like \u201cI am not built like other men\u201d and \u201cMy destiny is more powerful than my will\u201d aren\u2019t exactly uttered by people known for humility. But Joaquin Phoenix played the emperor as the great stoic man of history rather than the passionate, energetic man Napoleon was. In the 2002 miniseries, we see both the grandeur of the coronation and details of the behind-the-scenes work, showing an incredibly charismatic person ensuring that everything is exactly how he wants people to see it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

Bonaparte Before the Sphinx<\/em> by Jean-L\u00e9on G\u00e9r\u00f4me<\/p><\/div>\n

Of course, David was far from the only painter to produce propaganda on Napoleon\u2019s behalf. Both <\/span>Fran\u00e7ois G\u00e9rard<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres<\/span><\/a> created portraits of Napoleon in his lavish coronation robes. The former shows him in a way <\/span>similar to past European kings<\/span><\/a>, while the latter shows him enthroned, <\/span>like how Jupiter might be depicted<\/span><\/a>. Antoine-Jean Gros, one of David\u2019s students, created <\/span>Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa<\/span><\/i><\/a> in 1804, showing an episode from the Egyptian campaign five years earlier. Napoleon personally commissioned this work to counter rumors that he had ordered the execution of sick soldiers. Here, Gros shows the general reaching out to touch one of the plague victims, much to his terrified entourage’s chagrin. This painting was meant to show Napoleon as a compassionate figure, similar to the biblical story of Jesus healing the leper. Even decades after Napoleon’s death, great painters like Jean-L\u00e9on G\u00e9r\u00f4me were immortalizing the emperor in paintings like Bonaparte Before the Sphinx<\/em>, which Scott also recreated in his film.<\/span><\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one lesson to be learned from Ridley Scott\u2019s film, it\u2019s that even before the age of mass media, powerful people cared very much about their image and took measures to enhance it. The big-budget biopic may certainly bring to life Napoleon\u2019s larger-than-life personality and the scale of the events he facilitated for modern audiences. However, by only looking at the carefully crafted image he created for himself, we only have a partial portrait of one of the most influential people who has ever lived.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ridley Scott\u2019s latest historical epic film Napoleon, released in the US and UK on November 22nd, tries to tell the story of the Corsican-born French artillery general who ascended to rule most of Continental Europe for over a decade. Though … More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":49003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[773,867,146,57,52,802,11,9],"class_list":["post-49001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rehs-galleries","category-rehs-contemporary","tag-18th-century-art","tag-18th-century-french-art","tag-19th-century-french","tag-art-movies","tag-napoleon","tag-neoclassical","tag-rehs-contemporary-news","tag-rehs-galleries-news"],"yoast_head":"\nNapoleon & David: Historical Painting vs. Historical Accuracy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ridley Scott's Napoleon biopic has kickstarted new debates on historical accuracy in filmmaking. 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But the film's use of paintings as references hint at the power of image-cultivation.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2023\/11\/napoleon-david-historical-painting-vs-historical-accuracy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2023\/11\/napoleon-david-historical-painting-vs-historical-accuracy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2023\/11\/napoleon-david-historical-painting-vs-historical-accuracy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image.jpg","width":440,"height":309,"caption":"The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries by Jacques-Louis David (detail, left); Self-Portrait by Jacques-Louis David (right)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2023\/11\/napoleon-david-historical-painting-vs-historical-accuracy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Napoleon & David: Historical Painting vs. Historical Accuracy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/","name":"Rehs Galleries","description":"Offering and acquiring high quality paintings in excellent condition. 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