A Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, with a Sketch of Josephine, Empress of the French.Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva)
History
A Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, with a Sketch of Josephine, Empress of the French.
Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva)
Josephine, Empress, consort of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1763-1814; Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
SECOND PERIOD, 1801–1804, _Napoleon the Statesman and
Lawgiver_.—During this period many English artists visited Paris,
and painted or engraved portraits of Napoleon. In these the Italian
spelling “Buonaparte” is adopted, while in the French engravings of
this period he is called “Bonaparte” or “General Bonaparte.”
Especially noteworthy among them is “The Review at the Tuileries,”
regarded by Masson as the best likeness of Napoleon “when thirty
years old and in his best estate.” The portrait painted by Gérard in
1803, and engraved by Richomme, is by others considered the best of
this period. There is already a marked change from the long and thin
face in earlier portraits to the round and full face of this period.
In some of these prints the Code Napoléon is introduced as an
accessory.
THIRD PERIOD, 1804–1812, _Napoleon the Emperor_.—He is now styled
“Napoléon,” “Napoléon le Grand,” or “L’Empereur.” His chief painters
in this period are Léfevre, Gérard, Isabey, Lupton, and David (with
Raphael-Morghen, Longhi, Desnoyers, engravers)—artists of greater
merit than those of the earlier periods. The full-length portrait by
David has been copied oftener and is better known than any other.
It has been said that we cannot in the portraits of this period,
executed by Gérard, Isabey, and David, find a true likeness of
Napoleon. His ministers thought “it was necessary that the sovereign
should have a serene expression, with a beauty almost more than
human, like the deified Cæsars or the gods of whom they were the
image.” “Advise the painters,” Napoleon wrote to Duroc, September
15, 1807, “to make the countenance more gracious (_plutôt
gracieuses_).” Again, “Advise the painters to seek less a perfect
resemblance than to give the beau ideal in preserving certain
features and in making the likeness more agreeable (_plutôt
agréable_).”
FOURTH PERIOD, 1812–1815, _Decline and Fall of Napoleon_.—We have
probably in the front and side face made by Girodet, and published
in England, a true likeness of Napoleon. It was drawn by Girodet in
the Chapel of the Tuileries, March 8, 1812, while Napoleon was
attending mass. It is believed to be a more truthful likeness than
that by David, made the same year; the change in his appearance to
greater fulness than in the portraits of 1801–1804 is here more
plainly marked. He has now become corpulent, and his face is round
and full. Two portraits taken in 1815 show it even more clearly. One
of these was taken immediately before the battle of Waterloo, and
the other, by J. Eastlake, immediately after. Mr. Eastlake, then an
art student, was staying at Plymouth when the “Bellerophon” put in.
He watched Napoleon for several days, taking sketches from which he
afterwards made a full-length portrait.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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