Gravin de Pagès as St. Catherine (1850)

Joseph-Désiré Court: Gravin de Pagès, née de Cornellan, as St. Catherine

Napolean Crossing the Alps (1850)

Paul Delaroche: Napoleon Crossing the Alps

This is arguably the most famous painting of Napoleon. In contrast to many portraits of Napoleon which exaggerate his status and authority, Paul Delaroche has elected to portray a younger Napoleon, who was yet to crown himself Emperor.

The sharp angles of the rock faces, icicles and freezing mist reinforce the treacherous nature of the Great St Bernard Pass which cuts its way through the Alps. A lone peasant leads a mule through the snow-capped scene. Atop the mule sits a forlorn and slightly bedraggled Napoleon, wrapped in a greatcoat that is more functional than vainglorious. There are no visible accoutrements to his immense power. He leads no army, wields no weapon and displays no medals; he rides a lowly mule rather than his more usual rearing white stallion, which follows him in the bottom left corner. The painting is unusual in the way it downplays what was a victorious military campaign but also because it was commissioned by an Englishman, Arthur George, 3rd Earl of Onslow one of many noblemen who, surprisingly perhaps, admired Napoleon.

The painting, however, is not meant to disparage or insult a man with whom Delaroche was fascinated. His obsession stemmed from the strong physical resemblance he bore to Napoleon and whose successes and reversals he compared to his own. In his view, the iconic figure of Napoleon would not be demeaned by being revealed as a credible and vulnerable man. [Cheshire Life]

The Exiles of Tiberias (1850)

Félix-Joseph Barrias: The Exiles of Tiberias

Barrias was a painter of religious, historical, and mythological subjects.

Galerie D'Apollon (1850)

Armand Julien Palliere: Galerie D'Apollon au Musee du Louvre

Emperor Napoleon I and His Staff on Horseback (1850)

Horace Vernet: Emperor Napoleon I and His Staff on Horseback

Young Italian Mother (1850)

Charles François Jalabert: Young Italian Mother

Roll Call of the Last Victims of Terror (ca.1850)

Charles Louis-Lucien Muller: Roll Call of the Last Victims of Terror