Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the
Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 Dec 1804
Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 Dec 1804
Commissioned by Napoleon himself in 1804, the finished painting is a huge canvas: 10 meters wide, 6 meters tall. It must have been one of David's most demanding works. Besides the scale, there is the vast detail. The central figure is, of course, Napoleon, holding a crown. Here is a key to some of the key personalities in the photo (thanks to Wikipedia).
- Napoleon
- Josephine
- Napoleon's mother
- Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and husband of Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of Josephine by a previous marriage
- Joseph Bonaparte, another of Napoleon's brothers. He was not actually present at the event.
- Napoleon Charles Bonaparte, son of Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais
- Napoleon's sisters
- Charles-Francois Lebrun
- Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès
- Louis-Alexandre Berthier
- Talleyrand
- Joachim Murat, marshal of empire, became King of Naples in 1808, married Napoleon's sister Caroline
- Pope Pius VII
- The painter, Jacques-Louis David, painted himself into the stands
Here is the central part of the painting in more detail.
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