The Empress and the Roi de Rome

Marie-Louise, Empress of the French, and the Roi de Rome
Versailles, Musée National du Château

Known to his contemporaries as «the painter of kings and the king of painters’, Gérard was the official portrait painter of Napoleon, the imperial family and the grand dignitaries of the First Empire. This specialisation won him honours in abundance. Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 1802, ‘Premier Peintre’ for the Empress Josephine in 1806, Professor at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1811, Member of the Institut in 1812, he also led a brilliant career after the fall of the Empire when he became ‘Premier Peintre’ for Louis XVIII in 1817. Placing himself within the tradition of the great court portrait painters, Gérard painted official portraits which, particularly in his female portraits, were frequently ‘softened’ or deformalised. Indeed, the grace of his draughtsmanship, the richness of the colours, and the background, clearly evocative of the social status of the sitter, all conspire to give a sense of intimacy, bringing the viewer closer.