Paintings : 26
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PaintingA Photograph of Empress Eugenie in Prayer (1856)
During the summer of 1856, photographer Gustave Le Gray (1820-1884) made several portraits of the Empress Eugenie at the Palace of Saint-Cloud; she had given birth to the Prince Imperial a few months earlier (on 16 March). The idea behind the photos was to assist fellow artist Thomas Couture (1815-1879) in his composition of a […]
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PaintingEmpress Josephine in her coronation robes
The coronation and consecration ceremony or “Sacre” This massive painting of the Empress Josephine enthroned in majesty recalls 2 December 1804, the day of the “Sacre” [coronation and consecration], an historic moment when the imperial couple was at its zenith. The historian Pierre Branda* describes it as follows: “The great day of the coronation had […]
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PaintingLa Ménagerie impériale, composée des ruminants, amphibies, carnivores et autres budgétivores qui ont dévoré la France pendant 20 ans [the Imperial Menagerie, featuring ruminants, amphibians, carnivores, and other state-funding-ivores who have been devouring France for the last 20 years]
The Second Empire, it is true, was built upon the idea of the First, but the liberalisation of the Second (from 1861 on) was not a step that the uncle ever took; at least not until the extraordinary Hundred Days, and even then only half-heartedly. As a result, the political caricatures that assailed Napoleon I […]
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PaintingPortrait of Eugène de Beauharnais
This oil on canvas portrait of Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy was executed in 1810 by Andrea Appiani (1754-1817), the so-called “Painter of Graces” and also First Painter for the King of Italy, Napoleon I. Appiani painted many portraits and palace frescoes for the family of the Emperor and King, many of which, alas, disappeared […]
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PaintingPosthumous portrait of Charles Bonaparte
This posthumous portrait of Charles Bonaparte is by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson – more commonly known as Girodet. The artist painted two versions, the first in 1805 (presented in this article) and another version in 1806 (which can be seen here). The two – almost identical – paintings are now held, respectively, at the Château de […]
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PaintingPortrait of Jerome Bonaparte on the bridge of a ship
This portrait of Jerome Bonaparte (1784-1860), Napoleon’s younger brother, depicts a scene from his early adult life (from 1800 to 1806) spent in the French navy. It was painted by the prolific Flemish portraitist François-Joseph Kinson (1771–1839) (or Kinsoen with the original Flemish spelling) who would later be chosen as Jerome’s official painter when the latter […]
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PaintingNapoleon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, Prince Napoleon
A portrait, a reflection of the soul When Hippolyte Flandrin painted this portrait in 1860, Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte (9 September 1822 – 17 March 1891), better known as Jerome-Napoleon, was 40 years old. Reality is not embellished. The painter has put the subject in a minimalist setting against a plain, dark background. Jerome-Napoleon, […]
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PaintingPhotograph of Prince-President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte
On 11 December 1848, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was elected (the first, and only) President of the Second Republic, by universal male suffrage. It was from the Elysée-National (the Elysée Palace, chosen by the Assembly to be the official residence of the President of the Republic) that the future Emperor prepared the coup d’etat of 2 December […]
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PaintingPortrait of Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph Bonaparte was born on 7 January 1768 just over a year earlier than his brother Napoleon. He studied Law in Pisa in 1787 and began his career in Corsica, as a lawyer in Bastia, then as a judge at the Ajaccio Law court just as the French Revolution broke out. He took refuge with […]
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Painting / Directory / 1st EmpirePortrait of Caroline Murat, Grande-duchesse of Clèves and of Berg
This portrait, painted in 1807, marks the meeting of two exceptional women: Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, survivor of the Ancien Regime, and Caroline Bonaparte, sister of Emperor Napoleon I, a new ruler in an invented land. Vigée Le Brun was, in effect, an escapee of the Revolution. Already a well-known portraitist from her early […]