Napoleon visiting the battlefield of Eylau, 9 February, 1807
Paris, Musée du Louvre
Eylau was made the subject of a competition in March 1807, less than a month after the terrible battle which resulted in more than 50,000 French and Russian victims. Whilst underlining the French victory, the principal purpose of the winning picture was to express Napoleon’s emotions in the face of such carnage. “If all the kings of the earth could view such a spectacle, they would be less keen on wars and conquest”, the emperor is said to have declared. Gros, the winner of the competition, here in this picture reached the summit of his art, elevating history painting to a level never equalled, before or since. Under a leaden sky, his face washed out but marked with immense pity, Napoleon crosses the battlefield dotted with corpses. Set against the dark silhouette of Murat, the personification of the pitiless warrior, the emperor is the embodiment of humanity and compassion. Here for the first time victory’s dark side, the other side of the coin, is painted in all its cruel reality.