Paintings : 166
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PaintingSketch of ‘2 May 1808 in Madrid’, also called ‘The Assault against the Mamlukes at the Puerta del Sol’
On 2 May, 1808, the population of Madrid (which had been in a state of unrest for a couple of weeks due to the presence of the French troops) staged an uprising. The combats raged in the streets; city governor Joachim Murat decreed martial law. In the evening, a military tribunal met with instructions to […]
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PaintingBonaparte crossing the Great St Bernard Pass
The relationship between Napoleon Bonaparte and Jacques-Louis David was tumultuous, but we tend to think rather of the images the latter made of the former, which helped the cause of the general, First Consul then Emperor during fifteen years of power. David started this portrait following the failure of a first monumental portrait which was […]
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PaintingNapoleon III Hands Baron Haussmann the Decree Annexing the Parisian Suburban Communes
Adolphe Yvon was principally a painter of battle scenes and a student of Paul Delaroche. His works include Marshal Ney Supporting the Rear Guard during the Retreat from Moscow (1856, Manchester Art Gallery), the Taking of the Malakoff tower by General Mac-Mahon, 8 September, 1855 (salon of 1857, Château de Versailles et de Trianon), The […]
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PaintingThe Clichy Gate, The Defence of Paris, 30 March 1814
Horace Vernet was a Bonapartist and profoundly patriotic, and he sought to evoke the Napoleonic era in his numerous works, which often have Napoleon as their central figure. Here he not only celebrates the will and the courage of marshal Moncey (1754-1842), a famous military personage, but also anonymous Parisians who rallied to the defence […]
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PaintingThe Empress Josephine in the park at Malmaison
Little is known about the commission for this painting. Apparently, the initial idea came from Guillaume Constantin, curator of the Empress’s collections at Malmaison, and from the painter Isabey. Probably begun in 1805, the work was not to be finished until the end of 1809. Prud’hon was most likely slowed up by his work on the painting […]
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PaintingLes chênes d’Apremont
After years of enduring the arbitrary whims of the July Monarchy Salon juries, the “eternally rejected” Théodore Rousseau achieved fame during the Second Republic. It was the Second Empire however that would grant him the official recognition he so craved. He was made knight of the Légion d’honneur in 1852 and officer in 1867, and […]
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PaintingThe Turkish Bath
The frequent appearance of female bathers and odalisques in Ingres’ paintings stemmed from the artist’s fascination with the female nude and his search for the classical ideal. This quest – one might even say obsession – reached its climax towards the end of his career with The Turkish Bath, a painting of complex provenance. It […]
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PaintingThe Battle of the Pyramids (detail)
Louis-François Lejeune, who was made a baron de l’Empire in 1810, was a quite extraordinary individual who succeeded in combining a military career with his artistic vocation. He initially studied with Pierre Henri de Valenciennes, a landscape painter, before attending the Ecole royale de peinture in 1789. He subsequently joined the army in 1792, at […]
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PaintingJean-Antoine Houdon sculpting the bust of First Consul Bonaparte
This canvas is one of a series of preparatory studies that Boilly carried out in preparation for L’Atelier d’un sculpteur. Tableau de Famille. The painting, better known today as L’Atelier de Houdon, was unveiled at the Salon of 1804 and is today held in the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris. This particular work, completed […]
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PaintingSentinella – Garibaldean volunteer during the siege of Rome
The night of 2 June 1849, 30,000 soldiers under the command of General Oudinot attacked the fortifications on the Janiculum hill. It would be another month before the French expeditionary corps – greater in number, arms and equipment – would succeed in entering Rome. The city had been declared a Republic in February after the […]