The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries | |
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Artist | Jacques-Louis David |
Year | 1812 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 203.9 cm × 125.1 cm (80.3 in × 49.3 in) |
Location | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. |
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries (French: Napoléon dans son cabinet de travail aux Tuileries) is an 1812 painting by Jacques-Louis David. It shows French Emperor Napoleon I in uniform in his study at the Tuileries Palace. Despite the detail, it is unlikely that Napoleon posed for the portrait.[1]
It was a private commission from the Scottish nobleman and admirer of Napoleon, Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton in 1811 and completed in 1812. Originally shown at Hamilton Palace, it was sold to Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery in 1882, from whom it was bought by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1954, which deposited it in Washington D.C.'s National Gallery of Art, where it now hangs.[2]
Iconography
Vertical in format, it shows Napoleon standing, three-quarters life size, wearing the uniform of a colonel of the Imperial Guard Foot Grenadiers (blue with white facings and red cuffs). He also wears his Legion of Honour and Order of the Iron Crown decorations, along with gold epaulettes, white French-style culottes and white stockings. His face is turned towards the viewer and his right hand is in his jacket.
Piled on the desk are a pen, several books, dossiers and rolled papers. More rolled papers and a map are on the green carpet to the left of the desk – on these papers is the painter's signature LVDci DAVID OPVS 1812. All this, along with Napoleon's unbuttoned cuffs, wrinkled stockings, disheveled hair, the flickering candles and the time on the clock (4:13 am) are all meant to imply he has been up all night, writing laws such as the Code Napoléon – the word "Code" is prominent on the rolled papers on the desk. This maintains his new civil rather than heroic (as in Canova's Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker) or military (as in David's own Napoleon Crossing the Alps) image, though the sword on the chair's armrest still refers back to his military successes. The fleurs-de-lys and heraldic bees also imply the stability of the imperial dynasty.[1]
Development
An analysis of the original painting reveals that the artist reedited the composition and details several times to balance the image, add allusions, and capture a complete story.
Brush strokes and texture indicate that an earlier version had Napoleon's upper body flanked by two fluted columns about the width of the figure's torso. These strong vertical elements would have created a distraction from the central figure.
These columns were revised to a carved panel in shadow (on the viewer's left) and a clock with a large face (viewer's right) on level with and somewhat larger than the figure's face. The clock was later repainted with a smaller face moved up and to the right, with the clock body still covering the underlying column brush strokes.
These revisions greatly improved the compositional balance of the painting's upper section, reducing the impression of three vertical columns. They successfully moved the viewer's focus to Napoleon's face and expression and away from the presumably accurate stature and middle-heavy build.
The change also allowed incorporating additional symbology, most notably the time (4:13).
Other revisions were added symbols on the table items and lower section, many painted over fleurs-de-lis which are conspicuously rare in the final image.
See also
References
External videos | |
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- ^ a b "The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries - Notes". National Gallery of Art. Accessed 21 August 2010.
- ^ "The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries - Provenance". National Gallery of Art. Accessed 8 January 2013.
- ^ "David's The Emperor Napoleon In His Study at the Tuileries". Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
Further reading
- Mayer, Manuel (2019). Die Erschöpfung des Kaisers. Jacques-Louis Davids Napoleon im Washingtoner Tuilerien-Portrait. ART-Dok. Publikationsplattform Kunst- und Bildwissenschaften der Universität Heidelberg. pp. 1–11.
- Antoine Schnapper David, 1748–1825, catalogue de l'exposition Louvre-Versailles 1989 ed. Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, 1989 – Sur le tableau No 206 et 207 pages 474–477.
- Bordes, Philippe (2007). Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile. Yale University Press. p. 400. ISBN 9780300123463.
External links
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- National Gallery of Art - catalogue entry
- Second version - image
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- List of works
- Portrait of François Buron (1769)
- Jupiter and Antiope (1771)
- Minerva Fighting Mars (1771)
- Diana and Apollo Killing Niobe's Children (1772)
- The Death of Seneca (1773)
- Erasistratus Discovering the Cause of Antiochus' Disease (1774)
- The Funeral Games of Patroclus (1778)
- Saint Jerome Hears the Trumpet of the Last Judgment (1779)
- Saint Roch Interceding with the Virgin for the Plague-Stricken (1780)
- Portrait of Count Stanislas Potocki (1780)
- Belisarius Begging for Alms (1781)
- Christ on the Cross (1782)
- Andromache Mourning Hector (1783)
- Portrait of Alphonse Leroy (1783)
- Oath of the Horatii (1784)
- The Vestal Virgin (c. 1787)
- The Death of Socrates (1787)
- Portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and his Wife (1788)
- The Loves of Paris and Helen (1788)
- The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons (1789)
- Portrait of Madame Pastoret (1791)
- Lycurgus of Sparta (1791)
- Portrait of Philippe-Laurent de Joubert (c. 1792)
- Portrait of Madame Marie-Louise Trudaine (1792, unfinished)
- The Death of Marat (1793)
- The Last Moments of Michel Lepeletier (1793, lost)
- The Death of Young Bara (1794, incomplete)
- The Tennis Court Oath (1794, incomplete)
- Self-Portrait (1794)
- Portrait of Pierre Seriziat (1795)
- Psyche Abandoned (1795)
- The Intervention of the Sabine Women (1799)
- Portrait of Madame Récamier (1800)
- Portrait of Cooper Penrose (1802)
- Napoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass (1800–1805)
- Portrait of Pope Pius VII (1805)
- Napoleon in Imperial Costume (1805)
- The Coronation of Napoleon (1807)
- Sappho and Phaon (1809)
- The Distribution of the Eagle Standards (1810)
- Portrait of comte Antoine Français de Nantes (1811)
- Napoleon in His Study (1812)
- Leonidas at Thermopylae (1814)
- Cupid and Psyche (1817)
- The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis (1818)
- The Anger of Achilles (1819)
- Mars Being Disarmed by Venus (1824)
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