x
Several factors led the First Consul to want to control the way his figure was represented. The main reason is trivial: Bonaparte did not like to pose for artists as a result of two experiences that displeased him. Gros managed in 1796 to obtain a difficult pose with the help of Josephine de Beauharnais , but complained of the limited time available. [45] David was more fortunate, but the hard-earned three hours only allowed him to fixate on the physiognomy of a model whose nervous temperament was prone to agitation. [46] Thus, when in 1800 David proposed a meeting for additional pose sessions in order to fix his features for the equestrian portrait, the refusal was clear.[47] :
“To pose? For what good? Do you think that the great people of Antiquity whose images we have posed posed?- But citizen first consul, I paint you for your century, for people who have seen you, who know you, they would like to see you like that.
- Similar? It's not the accuracy of the features, a wart on the nose, that's what makes the resemblance. The character of the physiognomy must be represented, which animates it. […] No one cares if the portraits of great people are alike, it is enough for their genius to be visible. ”
Since then, no official portrait of Napoleon, sculpted or painted, has been made in nature. Artists were forced to draw inspiration from previous works (engravings, portraits, sculptures), and were asked to idealize their illustrious model. [48] David's portrait marks a break in Napoleonic iconography.
From the very beginning, this portrait betrayed its function as a means of propaganda. Bonaparte himself oversaw David's work and, according to his early biographers, demanded that he be painted "calm on an impetuous horse." [49]
On September 21, 1801, the original and its first replica were exhibited for the first time at the Louvre , next to the painting Sabines and caused a controversy in the press because the entrance to the exhibition was paid. There was a tradition at that time for artists to exhibit their works at the Salon held at the Louvre and admission was free. Both paintings being already paid for by those who commissioned them, the critic Chaussard was the most virulent in denouncing this practice:
"It is a shameful speculation to give the public a simple look at some portraits. Genius and financial interest must not coexist. [50] ”
David had to defend himself in the press from accusations that he had mercantile intentions. [51]
The painter had set the price only for the first copy, receiving 24,000 pounds from the treasury of the King of Spain. It was more difficult for him to obtain payment for the other three versions ordered by the First Consul. As he asked for 20,000 francs for each painting, the general treasurer of the government Martin-Roch-Xavier Estève sent the invoice to Vivant Denon who asked the painter to reduce his claims and set the amount offered for paintings at 15,000 francs. [52]
Charles Paul Landon , in Annales du musée et de l'école moderne des Beaux-arts , praises David's painting:
"Recalling the bold crossing of the Alps that opened the glorious campaign of the year 8 in Italy and brought the astonishment and fear of the enemies of France, Mr. David knew how to make a simple portrait a completely historical composition.The great names of Hannibal and Charlemagne are so naturally associated with that of the emperor when we look at this painting, that it seems useless that they were written at the bottom of the painting. The artist's idea, however, is ingenious.
The whole figure is heroic, and is adjusted with a perfection that proves how much an artist can benefit from the French costume. Finally, the drawing, the touch, the color came together to make this composition worthy of the eyes of posterity . [53] ”
Charles Baudelaire criticizes the painting in Aesthetic Curiosities . Seeing the fifth copy on display at the Bonne-Nouvelle Bazaar, he compares it to the painting Napoleon in the Battle of Eylau by Antoine-Jean Gros:
"Bonaparte on Mount Saint-Bernard is perhaps, along with that of Gros, in the Battle of Eylau, the only poetic and grandiose Bonaparte that France possesses. [54] ”
Léon Rosenthal, in his work on David, judges the picture negatively:
“Bonaparte on Mount Saint-Bernard; the work is famous, it looks very cold, the composition is forced, too unlikely. It is more of a model of an equestrian statue than a painting. Finally, the monotonous and poor color does not arouse interest. The effort to make a meaningful and symbolic work is no longer successful, because the bias has intensified to such an extent that it affects the truth. [55] ”
The painting influenced many artists, such as Géricault, who was first inspired by the position of the character in this portrait in his first studies as an Imperial Guard Hunting Officer on the attack . Eugène Delacroix was inspired by Bonaparte 's image for the Turkish horseman on the right side of his painting Scene from the Chios Massacres , which he combined with Géricault's horseman. [56] Paul Delaroche with Bonaparte crossing the Alps proposes a new version of the event in a realistic form, in reaction to David's heroic vision.
Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais , in The Black Brunswicker , shows on the wall an engraved reproduction [57] of David's painting interpreted by critics as a romantic admiration for the figure of Napoleon. [58]
The contemporary painter Eduardo Arroyo distorts the work entitled The Great Passage of Saint-Bernard (1965) by depicting Bonaparte beheaded on a Saint-Bernard dog , a work seen as a denunciation of the Franco regime . [59] [60] Robert Rauschenberg drew inspiration from David's painting to make Able Was I Ere I Saw Elba II in 1985. Andy Warhol , in a screenprint for Vogue magazine and Diana Vreeland Rampant , sticks Diana Vreeland's face on Bonaparte's body.
The American painter Kehinde Wiley (born 1977 ) reinterprets the history of art by placing representations of young Americans of color in classical compositions. David's painting was thus the subject of a personal interpretation: Bonaparte is replaced by a young African-type man, dressed in camouflage and wearing a turban. The background of the composition is a decorative motif, imitating silk. In the lower left, next to the inscriptions on David's painting, we also read "William". This work, entitled Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps , is part of the collections of the Brooklyn Museum . [61]
The posterity of Napoleon's painting crossing the Alps is characterized by an incalculable number of reproductions, in engravings , posters , even postage stamps , making this work one of the most reproduced portraits of Napoleon.
Alexandre Brongniart , the director of the porcelain factory in Sèvres , copied it, in 1810 , on the vase called De Madame Mère , kept at the Louvre .
Théophile Thoré-Bürger , who saw the 1846 copy owned by the daughter of David exposed Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle, noted: "This figure equestrian has been reproduced thousands of times in bronze and plaster , pedestal pendulum and mobile from peasant houses, with chisels and pencils, on wallpaper and fabrics. [62] ”
