''The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries'' is an 1812 painting by
Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
. It shows French Emperor
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
in uniform in his study at the
Tuileries Palace
The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...
. Despite the detail, it is unlikely that Napoleon posed for the portrait.The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries - Notes . National Gallery of Art. Accessed 21 August 2010.
It was a private commission from the Scottish nobleman and admirer of Napoleon,
Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton, 7th Duke of Brandon KG PC FRS FSA (3 October 1767 – 18 August 1852) was a Scottish politician and art collector.
Life
Born on 3 October 1767 at St. James's Square, London, a son of Archibald H ...
in 1811 and completed in 1812. Originally shown at
Hamilton Palace
Hamilton Palace was a country house in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The former seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, it dated from the 14th century and was subsequently much enlarged in the 17th and 19th centuries.Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery in 1882, from whom it was bought by the
Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Samuel Henry Kress (July 23, 1863 – September 22, 1955) was a businessman, philanthropist, and founder of the S. H. Kress & Co. five and ten cent store chain. With his fortune, Kress amassed one of the most significant collections of Italian R ...
in 1954, which deposited it in Washington D.C.'s
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
Vertical in format, it shows Napoleon standing, three-quarters life size, wearing the uniform of a colonel of the
Imperial Guard
An imperial guard or palace guard is a special group of troops (or a member thereof) of an empire, typically closely associated directly with the Emperor or Empress. Usually these troops embody a more elite status than other imperial forces, in ...
Foot Grenadiers (blue with white facings and red cuffs). He also wears his
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
and
Order of the Iron Crown
The Order of the Iron Crown ( it, link=no, Ordine della Corona Ferrea) was an order of merit that was established on 5 June 1805 in the Kingdom of Italy by Napoleon Bonaparte under his title of Napoleon I, King of Italy.
The order took its name ...
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 (4:13am) 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
''Napoleon Crossing the Alps'' (also known as ''Napoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass'' or ''Bonaparte Crossing the Alps''; listed as ''Le Premier Consul franchissant les Alpes au col du Grand Saint-Bernard'') is a series of five oil on canvas e ...
'') 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.
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
The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol.
The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...
which are conspicuously rare in the final image.
References
Further reading
*
*
Antoine Schnapper
Antoine Schnapper (10 July 1933 – 29 August 2004) was a French art historian on art of the 17th and the 18th century. A student of André Chastel, he organised many retrospectives on artists of that period, notably one at the Louvre in 1989 on J ...
''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.
*
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...