Charlotte Corday (1860)

Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry: Charlotte Corday

 

This very famous painting depicts Charlotte Corday after her murder of Jean-Paul Marat, one of the most radical leaders in the French Revolution.

The death of Marat was first depicted artistically by Jacques-Louis David in 1793 (below). Among later works, the Charlotte Corday by Paul Jacques Aimé Baudry, painted in 1860, during the Second Empire, when Marat's "dark legend" (the angry monster insatiably hungry for blood) was widely spread among educated people, depicts Charlotte Corday as a true heroine of France, a model of virtue for the younger generations. [Wikipedia]

Jacques-Louis David: The Death of Marat (1793)

Mars Disarmed by Venus and the Three Graces (1824)

Jacques-Louis David: Mars Disarmed by Venus and the Three Graces

Here we have David's last great painting. It was begun in 1822 and its progress interrupted by illness.

The painting depicts Mars (the Roman God of war) being charmed by Venus (the Roman Goddess of beauty and love) and the Three Graces. Cupid is at the bottom of the picture, untying the sandal on Mars' foot, his golden arrow placed beside him. However, hesitation is shown in the image of Venus pausing before placing the crown of thorns on Mars' head. [Liberté]

The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte (1821)

Jacques-Louis David: The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte

A late canvas by David - he died four years later.

The sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte, Napoleon's nieces, embrace as they read a letter from their father, Joseph Bonaparte, who was exiled in the United States while they lived in Brussels, Belgium, after Napoleon's fall from power. The folds of the carefully creased paper are realistically rendered, and the viewer can even decipher a Philadelphia address on the letter.

Jacques-Louis David juxtaposed the sisters' different personalities through their contrasting expressions and attire. The elder Zénaïde appears worldly and elegant in a low-cut black velvet dress. Sitting upright, she looks frankly out at the viewer as she protects her younger sister, Charlotte. Charlotte appears timid and reticent as she shyly raises her eyes, and her dress, a modest gray-blue silk, suits her demeanor. The exiled princesses both wear tiaras and sit on a red velvet couch embroidered with golden bees, the Bonaparte family emblem. [Getty]

The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis (1818)

Jacques-Louis David: The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis

Eucharis, who does not appear in Greek mythology, was one of the nymph Calypso's attendants in Fénelon's novel Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699). In Fénelon's modern prose epic, an improvisation upon Homeric themes, Telemachus while searching for his father, Odysseus, has been shipwrecked on Calypso's island, and there has fallen in love with Eucharis but must leave her, dutifully to pursue his quest. Fénelon, in charge of the education of the heir to the French throne, offered his novel, "not as a frivolous novel, that is offered here, reader, for your idleness, but a learned parable". Its theme of the conflict between duty and love is a persistent one, central in French 17th-century classical theater, but peripheral to the Odyssey in spite of its erotic episodes. A sub-theme in Les Aventures de Télémaque, of spiritual education, is summed up by Mentor who says, "He who has not felt his weakness and the violence of his passions is not yet wise; for he does not yet understand himself and does not know how to distrust himself." [Wikipedia]

Fixing the viewer with a dreamy gaze, the fair-haired Telemachus grasps Eucharis's thigh with his right hand while holding his sword upright with the other. The ill-fated lovers say farewell in a grotto on Calypso's island. Facing towards us, Telemachus's blue tunic falls open to reveal his naked torso. Eucharis, seen in profile, encircles Telemachus's neck and gently rests her head upon his shoulder in resignation. In this way, Jacques-Louis David contrasts masculine rectitude with female emotion.

David painted The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis during his exile in Brussels. The use of saturated reds and blues contrasted with flesh-tones and combined with a clarity of line and form typifies the Neoclassical style, which is characteristic of David's late history paintings. [Getty]

Cupid and Psyche (1817)

Here are two depictions of the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche, both dating to 1817.

 François-Éduard Picot: Cupid and Psyche

  

Jacques-Louis David: Cupid and Psyche

It's interesting to compare these two renditions of the same theme. David's is more playful and erotic: Cupid (representing erotic love) smiles knowingly at us, while carelessly draping his arm over Psyche's breast. Picot's version is perhaps more traditionally Neoclassic. Cupid is taking leave of a sleeping Psyche while reaching for his quiver of arrows - off to spark more romantic connections, no doubt. Picot's Cupid seems to be younger (and perhaps more naive?) than David's.

Étienne Maurice Gérard (1816)

Jacques-Louis David: Étienne Maurice Gérard

The subject, Gérard, (1773-1852) was a French general and statesman. He served under a succession of French governments including the ancien regime monarchy, the Revolutionary governments, the Restorations, the July Monarchy, the First and Second Republics, and the First Empire (and arguably the Second), becoming Prime Minister briefly in 1834. [Wikipedia]

Apelles painting Campaspe (1815)

Jacques-Louis David: Apelles Painting Campaspe

Campaspe was a mistress of Alexander the Great; he commissioned the artist Apelles to paint her. In the process Apelles fell in love with Campaspe, and rather than having Apelles killed as one might expect, he gave Campaspe to the painter. The idea behind Alexander’s gesture is that love inspired by beauty is most appreciated by the one who discerns it best. This story was embraced by painters to demonstrate that they were the best judges of beauty.

Leonidas at Thermopylae (1814)

Jacques-Louis David: Leonidas at Thermopylae

This is David's great tribute to the Spartans' stand against an overwhelming Persian army. The Battle of Thermopylae is recounted here, and also in this movie.

An analysis of the painting is elsewhere online.

Napoleon in his Study at the Tuileries (1812)

Jacques-Louis David: Napoleon in his Study at the Tuileries

Portrait of Count Antoine Français de Nantes (1811)

Jacques-Louis David: Portrait of Count Antoine Français de Nantes, State Counsellor

Towards the end of his eventful life (any life in which one survives both the French Revolution and the era of Napoleon is by definition eventful) this man was named a "Peer of France".

Comtesse Daru (1810)

Jacques-Louis David: Comtesse Daru

David signed this portrait at four o’clock on March 14, 1810. He had executed it as a surprise for Comte Daru, who had obtained for David his payment for Le Sacre, the vast painting of the coronation of Napoleon and Josephine. The subject’s character, so sympathetically conveyed by David, was characterized by her admirer Stendhal as “forceful, frank, and jolly.”

Source: Art in The Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996.

The Army Takes an Oath to the Emperor after the Distribution of Eagles (1810)

Jacques-Louis David: The Army Takes an Oath to the Emperor 

after the Distribution of Eagles, 5 December 1804

Some Napoleonic pomp for your Saturday. Napoleon was apparently trying to model his empire after the Roman empire. (More here.)

Sappho and Phaon (1809)

Jacques-Louis David: Sappho and Phaon

The great David was commissioned to paint this work by none other than Nikolay Yusupov - the father of the subject of yesterday's painting.  

Sappho is shown sitting in a chair at the foot of a bed in a classically decorated room with columns, a marble floor and a view to a rural landscape outside (with Venus's birds, doves, sitting on the doorstep). Phaon stands behind the chair holding a spear and bow. On her knee is a scroll with some of her verses in praise of Phaon and Cupid kneels in front of her, holding up her lyre, which she tries to play with her right hand whilst leaning her head back to let Phaon cradle her head in his left arm. [from Wikipedia]

Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine (1807)

After three weeks in 1806, it's on to 1807, and one of Jacques-Louis David's most famous paintings:

Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the 
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).

1. Napoleon
2. Josephine
3. Napoleon's mother
4. Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and husband of Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of Josephine by a previous marriage
5. Joseph Bonaparte, another of Napoleon's brothers. He was not actually present at the event.
6. Napoleon Charles Bonaparte, son of Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais
7. Napoleon's sisters
8. Charles-Francois Lebrun
9. Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès 
10. Louis-Alexandre Berthier 
11. Talleyrand
12. Joachim Murat, marshal of empire, became King of Naples in 1808, married Napoleon's sister Caroline
13. Pope Pius VII
14. The painter, Jacques-Louis David, painted himself into the stands

Here is the central part of the painting in more detail.

Portrait of Pope Pius VII (1805)

Jacques-Louis David: Portrait of Pope Pius VII

This portrait of Pius VII (1742-1823; became Pope in March 1800) was done by Jacques-Louis David as a thank-you present to the Pope for assisting in Napoleon's coronation as emperor in 1804. Pius is seated on a red velvet chair embroidered in gold. He has a peaceful expression and wears a white zucchetto, a white rochet or tunic (of which only the sleeves can be seen), a red velvet pelerine-type camail with ermine cuffs and a red stole with gold embroidery. Pius's arms rest on the chair's arms and his right hand holds a paper on which is written in Latin Pio VII Bonarium Artium Patron (Pius VII, Patron of the Fine Arts). [More about the painting from Wikipedia (from which the preceding is also lifted)]

Although this painting (and others) present Pius as a friend of France, in fact relations were often difficult: despite his presence at Napoleon's coronation, Pius was often at odds with the emperor over territorial issues.

Portrait of Cooper Penrose (1802)

Jacques-Louis David painted this specially-commissioned portrait of a prominent Quaker gentleman. As noted in the entry for this painting at the Timken Museum in San Diego, Penrose was criticized by other Quakers for his "lavish" lifestyle and perhaps had this austere portrait done to answer this criticism. The unusual placement of the figure (who occupies only 2/3 of the vertical space in the painting) has the effect of making the sitter appear quite short - perhaps as part of his propaganda campaign to appear humble, or perhaps he really was a small man.

Madame Récamier (1800)

This is Portrait of Madame Récamier by the great Jacques-Louis David, one of the greatest of the French Neoclassic artists.

David (1748-1825) was one of the pre-eminent painters of his era and produced some of the still-most-recognized canvases of all time (for example). There is a good article about David and his artistic legacy at the Met's web site.

Juliette Récamier was a prominent society lady in the early 1800s. By all accounts a charming and accomplished lady, her personal life was rather mysterious. We'll see her again later...

Bienvenue!

Welcome to my blog of 19th century French painting! (Sorry, despite the blog title I don't speak French.)

Why another blog of French painting, when there are so many already? First, I feel I have a pretty good collection that I would love to share. Second, my presentation will be different than usual: rather than fairly random postings, or posting organized by artist (as many other blogs, and indeed my other painting blogs do), this will be a chronological blog: postings will begin with paintings from the year 1800 (one painting per day) and continue through 1910. Though the last bunch of postings will not strictly be 19th century, stylistically they are very much rooted in that century.

My blog principles:

1. I post paintings that I personally like. If a painting you know of isn't posted here, either I haven't encountered it (quite likely possibility) or it doesn't strike my fancy. Life's too short to post paintings I don't like.
2. Many if not most of the images have undergone mild editing from me.  This usually takes the form of color correction and brightness/contrast adjustment. In anticipation of criticism from historical purists, I say this: I'm interested in the paintings as images, not as historical artifacts. Plus, color correction often removes the yellowing of varnish that tends to afflict older paintings, so many of my color corrected images may be closer to the original than uncorrected ones. However, I make no claims that my posted images are in any way exact analogues of the existing physical paintings. 
3. Paintings are dated to the best of my ability. When a range of dates is given for a painting, I will place it chronologically at the recent end of the range rather than the older (because date ranges for paintings often indicate start and completion times). 
4. Obviously, many paintings are undated. Periodically I will interrupt the chronological stream to insert some of the undated paintings (so I'm not left with a huge pile of them at the end).
5. I post only relatively high-resolution images (preferably 1024 or higher in one dimension). This, of course, means that many worthy paintings will be left out of this blog because high-resolution scans of them don't exist. I make no apologies - a 500-pixel-wide image doesn't do much for me.
6. As far as I know all images posted here are public domain. If anyone has information to the contrary, please inform me and I will remove the image(s) in question.

So here we go with the first painting, and it's a famous one: Jacques-Louis David's Napoleon Crossing the Saint Bernard.

The dramatic scene here is from Napoleon's crossing of the Alps to attack the Austrians. In fact, there are no fewer than five separate versions of this painting in existence, so David got a lot of mileage (and no doubt income) out of it. There is much written about this painting, and I'll post links below for those wanting further information about it, but let me just point out this (which I didn't notice for a long time): at bottom left three names are shown inscribed into the rocks: Annibal (Hannibal), Karolus Magnus (Charlemagne) and Bonaparte. Clearly this is placing Napoleon in august historical company, and his name being more prominent and positioned above the others is doubtless intended to convey the message that Napoleon is the natural successor to those great historical figures.

More information about this can be found at these sites:

• Wikipedia
• Smart History
• National Gallery of Victoria

There are a lot more paintings of Napoleon to come. Although he was defeated fairly early in the 19th century, he cast a long shadow over France for many decades.

So, again, welcome, and I hope you enjoy the journey.