Paintings

Often criticised for his history paintings, David was however unanimously praised for his portraits. And even though he felt portraiture a lesser genre, he never belittled it and left to posterity a gallery of portraits of his contemporaries which are some of his best work. Juliette Récamier, born in Lyons in 1777, a banker's daughter […]

It was at the Salon of 1812 that Théodore Géricault, a young painter fascinated by the spectacle of his time, exhibited this his first masterful painting. Géricault’s inspiration for the work came from the simple street scene of a cart horse bolting, but he transformed it into a monumental equestrian portrait of Alexandre Dieudonné, a […]

Battle of Austerlitz, 2 December, 1805 Versailles, Musée National du Château Commissioned to commemorate the Grande Armée’s most famous exploit and exhibited at the Salon of 1810, this gigantic canvas was originally destined for the ceiling of the chamber in which the Conseil d’Etat met. The subject is the solemn moment of victory, with General […]

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 […]

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. […]

An episode from the retreat from Russia, 1812 Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts It was the Romantic generation, the ‘children of their time’, brought up on nostalgia for the Napoleonic epic, who took to painting the disaster of the retreat from Russia. Charlet, a pupil of Gros’s and best known for his lithographs, presented this poignant […]

The landing of allied troops in Crimea in 1854 Ajaccio, Musée Fesch Encouraged by the government, the history painters of the Second Empire became the self-appointed chroniclers of the military campaigns. The Crimea, Italy, Algeria, Mexico were for them just subjects to be illustrated and their works, exhibited to the public at the Salons, are […]

Napoleon in his study in the Tuileries Palace Washington, National Gallery of Art Totally unlike traditional portraits of sovereigns in their robes of state, this standing portrait is a realist allegory of the emperor’s civilian activities. Napoleon is wearing the blue uniform (with white lapels) of a Colonel of the Grenadiers à pied de la […]

The sacre or coronation of the Emperor Napoleon I Paris, Musée du Louvre   Commissioned by Napoleon I for the Salle des Gardes of the Tuileries Palace. Exhibited at the Salon of 1808. An ambitious composition representing the coronation, which took place on 2 December, 1804, in Notre-Dame cathedral, this canvas took three years of […]

The barricade, Rue de la Mortellerie, June 1848 known as Souvenir of the civil war Paris, Musée du Louvre Enrolled as a captain in the Artillerie de la Garde nationale, Meissonier viewed at close quarters the days of 1848 during which the troops of General Cavaignac annihilated the Parisians in revolt. This small picture is […]