Painting #1 – Bonaparte Visits the Plague Stricken in Jaffa, 1804, Antoine-Jean Gros
Prior to his famous coup d’etat, as a general of the French army, Napoleon invaded
Egypt. His violent capture of the city of Jaffa in March 1799 was rapidly followed by an
outbreak of the bubonic plague which killed many in the French army. On March 11,
Bonaparte made a spectacular visit to his sick soldiers, touching them, which was
considered to be either magnificent or suicidal. This painting by Antoine-Jean Gros
memorializes that event.
The painting records Napoleon trying to stop panic and inspire his troops by
entering a mosque filled with victims of the bubonic plague. The painting captures a
moment where Napoleon reaches out and touches the a French soldier’s buboes
(swollen glands). On the left, an Arab physician in white robes attends the sick. The sick
man with bandaged eyes on the right is suffering from blindness as well as plague. Since
the army's arrival in Egypt in July 1798, several French had suffered serious eye
problems due to the sand, dust and extreme light of the sun.
Painting #2 Napoleon Crossing the Alps, 1801, Jacques-Louis David
This painting records the crossing of the Alps by Napoleon’s army into Italy on a
campaign that led to a series of military victories for Napoleon’s forces. Like many
equestrian portraits (portraits on horseback), Napoleon Crossing the Alps is a portrait
of authority. Napoleon is pictured riding a rearing Arabian stallion. Before him to his
left we see a mountain, while in the background, largely obscured by rocks, French
troops haul along a large canon and further down the line fly the tricolor (the national
flag of France). Bonaparte’s gloveless right hand points up towards both heaven and
the invisible summit of the mountain.
The landscape is treated as a setting for the hero. On the rock to the bottom left, the
name of Napoleon is carved beside the names of Hannibal and Charlemagne—two
other notable figures who led their troops over the Alps. In terms of scale alone,
Napoleon and his horse dominate the painting. Taking the point further, if with that
outstretched arm and billowing cloak, his body seems to echo the landscape, the
reverse might equally hold true, that it is the landscape that echoes him, and is
ultimately mastered by his will. David seems to suggest that this man, whose
achievements will be celebrated for centuries to come, can do just about anything.
Painting #3 – Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne, 1806, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Ingres’ portrait shows Napoleon as emperor, in the costume he wore for his coronation,
seated on a circular-backed throne with armrests adorned with ivory balls. In his right
hand he holds the scepter of Charlemagne and in his left the hand of justice. On his
head is a golden laurel wreath, similar to one worn by Caesar. He also wears an ermine
hood under the great collar of the Legion of Honor, a gold-embroidered satin tunic and
an ermine-lined purple velvet cloak decorated with gold bees. The coronation sword is
in its scabbard and held up by a silk scarf. The subject wears white shoes embroidered in
gold and resting on a cushion. The carpet under the throne displays an imperial eagle.
Historians have attributed Ingres’ inspiration for Bonaparte’s positioning and
posture to two sources. One is the colossal Statue of Zeus at Olympia by Phidias, the
other is the figure of God the Father on an altarpiece (religious artwork displayed
behind the altar of a Catholic church) by Jan van Eyck.