Allegory of the State of France before the Return from Egypt (1810)

Jean-Pierre Franque: Allegory of the State of France before the Return from Egypt

A piece of Napoleonic propaganda showing "France" yearning for Napoleon to return from foreign shores and fix things at home. It's true that things got a bit chaotic in France while Napoleon was touring the Pyramids. Still, the fact that this was painted over a decade after the fact implies that it was done in response to the political climate of 1810, not 1798.

Stella painting a Madonna on his Prison Wall (1810)

François-Marius Granet: Stella painting a Madonna on his Prison Wall

"Stella" would appear to be Jacques Stella (1596-1657), a French painter of the early Baroque period.

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.

Portrait of a Lady (ca. 1810)

François-Henri Mulard: Portrait of a Lady

The French Army Pulling Down the Rosbach Column (1810)

Pierre Antoine Augustin Vafflard:  

The French Army Pulling Down the Rosbach Column, 18 October 1806

Vafflard was a painter of historical and genre scenes, and portraits. I have not been able to find anything definitive about the incident depicted in this painting. Perhaps the "Rosbach Column" was a commemoration of the Battle of Rossbach in 1757, when Frederick the Great defeated the French and Austrians - clear motivation for Napoleon's forces to disrespect it in this fashion.

The Battle of Austerlitz (1810)

François Gérard: The Battle of Austerlitz

This battle, also called The Battle of Three Emperors, took place in 1805 and was Napoleon's greatest victory.

General of the First Empire (ca. 1810)

Théodore Géricault: General of the First Empire Attacking the Enemy

Géricault (1791-1824; a sadly brief life) pioneered Romanticism in France.

Gothic Bathroom (1810)

Jean-Baptiste Mallet: Gothic Bathroom

Aurora and Cephalus (1810)

Pierre-Narcisse Guérin: Aurora and Cephalus

Back to Neoclassic depictions of mythology. Here Guérin depicts the story of Aurora, goddess of the dawn, who falls in love with the mortal hunter. He rejects her to stay faithful to his wife, but then, mistaking the noise she makes in the woods for an animal, kills her - a depressing tale.

Here's an older painting depicting Cephalus grieving over the slain body of his wife, Procris:

 Abraham Janssens van Nuyssen: Cephalus Grieving Over the Dying Procris (1610)

The Sons of Marshal Ney (1810)

Marie-Éléonore Godefroid: The Sons of Marshal Ney

Godefroid (1778-1849) was primarily a portrait painter.  An extensive (and very interesting) article about Godefroid, her life and art, is here. The following bits about the current painting are taken from this article.

This portrait, like all portraits, was designed in hopes of pleasing the patron and was reflective of the artist’s style and aesthetic choices. But it was also a repository for social relations, including the broader relations between groups in this period and the more specific ones, identifiable between the artist, sitters, and matrons or patrons of the work. While this portrait has been read as reflecting an idealized partnership between Marshal Ney and Napoleon, alternate meanings can be generated if read from the perspective of the boys’ mother. It is obvious, but necessary, to state that regardless of the title of the painting, these were the sons of both Neys and the connection to Godefroid arose from relations between Madame Ney and the artist. The work is not then evidence of only the male homosocial relations so visibly and obviously portrayed here, but also of matronage between women that introduced Godefroid into the Ney circle.

With its portrayal of sheathed, heavy swords hanging downward and the boys’ youthful dress, this painting is not, after all, fully committed to portraying boyhood or fraternity as all-powerful; indeed, the dramatic compositional division suggests metaphorical ‘directions’ for the development of future versions of masculinity. Godefroid’s portrait challenges the boundaries of genres and gender: it is a portrait made by a marginal female artist masquerading as a scene of everyday life and which reflects a potentially subversive reading of iconic history paintings by a male artist at the pinnacle of the academic and artistic hierarchy.

The Public Viewing David’s "Coronation" at the Louvre (1810)

Louis-Léopold Boilly: The Public Viewing David’s "Coronation" at the Louvre

Another treasure from Boilly. I really like paintings of paintings - particularly when they place the artwork in a social context, as this one does.

Here the public views David's enormous painting of Napoleon crowning Empress Josephine, which was exhibited in the Louvre on three separate occasions in 1808–10. Its display was widely reported in the newspapers. A man in military garb reads the description to enable viewers to identify the various figures in David's picture, while Boilly scattered further portraits including his own, at far right, among the spectators. One of Boilly's most ambitious compositions, painted in 1810 it was exhibited at the Galerie Lebrun, Paris, in 1826, in the first posthumous retrospective of works by David and his school. [This is the Metropolitan Museum's gallery label for this painting.]

Here the public views David's enormous painting of Napoleon crowning Empress Josephine, which was exhibited in the Louvre on three separate occasions in 1808–10. Its display was widely reported in the newspapers. A man in military garb reads the description to enable viewers to identify the various figures in David's picture, while Boilly scattered further portraits including his own, at far right, among the spectators. One of Boilly's most ambitious compositions, painted in 1810 it was exhibited at the Galerie Lebrun, Paris, in 1826, in the first posthumous retrospective of works by David and his school. - See more at: http://www2.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/438099#sthash.CwNw4Nv2.dpuf

Still Life with Tulips, etc. (1810)

Jean-Pierre-Xavier Bidauld: Still Life with Tulips, Carnations, Roses, 

Irises, Narcissi and Various Other Flowers in a Silver Vase Together 

With Figs, Grapes and Pomegranates on a Marble Ledge 

The still life form was not prominently practiced in early 19th century France; it was more of a 17th-18th century subject, although it would find new life with the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists beginning mid-century. The current painting is a classic "flower piece" wherein the artist displays technical virtuosity through true-to-life detail.

Napoleon in Berlin (1810)

Charles Meynier: Entrance of Napoleon in Berlin, 27 October 1806

  
Si vous comprenez français, il ya une courte vidéo sur cette peinture.

Napoleon's forces captured Berlin during the War of the Fourth Coalition.

Battle of Somo-Sierra (1810)

Louis-François Lejeune: Battle of Somo-Sierra, 30 November 1808

In this engagement during the Peninsular Campaign, Napoleon's Grande Armée overpowered outmatched Spanish forces, paving the way for the French to take Madrid.

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.)

Napoleon Receiving the Ambassador of Persia (1810)

François-Henri Mulard: Napoléon Receiving the Ambassador of Persia at the Château de Finkenstein

Here's an article about Napoleon and Persia.

Mulard (1769-1850) was a Neoclassical painter, apparently best known for this painting.

View in the Stables of the Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli (ca. 1805-10)

François-Marius Granet: View in the Stables of the Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli

Marriage of Prince Jérôme Bonaparte (1810)

Jean-Baptiste Regnault: Marriage of Prince Jérôme Bonaparte 

and the Princess Frédérique Catherine of Württemberg

Jérôme Bonaparte was Napoleon's youngest brother. The marriage depicted here was, of course, arranged by Napoleon. This was his second marriage; the first, to the daughter of an American merchant, was forcibly ended by Napoleon to further his own ambitions.

Regnault (1754-1829) was a Neoclassic painter, one of the few successful ones outside of the orbit of Jacques-Louis David.

An Elegant Interior with a Lady Reading (ca. 1810)

Marguerite Gerard: An Elegant Interior with a Lady Reading

Napoleon and His Family at Saint-Cloud (1810)

Jean-Louis Ducis: Napoleon and His Family at Saint-Cloud 

An improbable depiction of Napoleon as family man - making diplomats and generals wait in the background while he plays with the kids.

Jean-Louis Ducis (1775-1847) was a student of Jacques-Louis David.

Equestrian Portrait of Emperor Napoleon I (1810)

Carle Vernet: Equestrian Portrait of Emperor Napoleon I 

 This particular portrait, "Equestrian Portrait of Emperor Napoleon I," was given to General Anne Jean Marie René Savary by Napoleon. The general, who was the Duke of Rovigo, was one of Napoleon's longest-standing supporters, being one of the last to desert the emperor at his abdication in 1814.

Carle Vernet began studying art at age 11 and won the Prix de Rome at age 24. His stay in Rome ended prematurely, though, when his father recalled him to France to prevent him from entering a monastery. Apparently, he had undergone a "mystical experience." During the Revolution, his sister was guillotined and, while many sources state the tragedy wasn't reflected in his art, some believe his style changed radically after her death. Carle himself lived to be 78; supposedly, he was even seen "racing as if he were a sprightly young man" just days before his death. Despite being well-regarded in his own time, this lively artist is unfortunately known today mostly as an aside in the lives of his father and his son.

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/19343/all-family-vernets#ixzz2bgKshs9l

The Entry of Napoleon and Marie-Louise into the Tuileries Gardens on the Day of their Wedding (1810)

Étienne-Barthélémy Garnier: The Entry of Napoleon and Marie-Louise 

into the Tuileries Gardens on the Day of their Wedding

In January 1810, Napoleon officially divorced Josephine - like Henry VIII, he was dissatisfied at her inability to produce a male heir. He very quickly married again, this time the Austrian princess Marie-Louise. A detailed timeline of Napoleon's second marriage is here.

Garnier (1759-1849) was primarily a painter of historical subjects.

Battle of the Pyramids (1810)

Antoine-Jean Gros: Battle of the Pyramids

Another depiction of this battle, previously seen here.

Revolt in Cairo (ca. 1810)

Anne-Louis Girodet: Revolt in Cairo

A very melodramatic depiction of the Egyptian rebellion against French rule in 1798.

The Entry of Napoleon Bonaparte into Munich (1808)

Nicolas-Antoine Taunay: The Entry of Napoleon Bonaparte 

and the French Army into Munich, 24th October 1805

Up until 1805, when Napoleon “freed” Munich in the War of the Second Coalition and made  Maximilian king of Bavaria, that nation had repeatedly been a theater of war and had suffered the disastrous consequences. Only after Napoleon’s defeat in the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 did Bavaria enjoy a period of peace.

The son of a painter for the porcelain factory at Sèvres, France, Taunay began studying painting at age 13. His teachers included Francesco Casanova, whose landscape and history paintings inspired Taunay’s own subject matter. Taunay worked in a Neoclassical style throughout his career, producing landscapes and genre scenes as well as biblical, mythological, and history paintings.

Taunay was best known for his landscapes; as a young painter in Paris, he often worked out-of-doors. In 1804 Taunay was one of several artists chosen to portray the events of the Napoleonic campaign in Germany. Following the collapse of the regime, he joined the 1816 French artistic mission to Brazil, a small group of artists, architects, and civil engineers. Portugal’s King John VI, who was living in exile in Brazil, invited the mission to create an academy of arts and sciences and to introduce Neoclassicism to Rio de Janeiro. During his time in Brazil, Taunay made many paintings that recorded the landscapes of Rio de Janeiro and its environs. [summarized from Encyclopedia Brittanica]

In the 1790s Taunay produced this amazing - and chilling - canvas:

 Triumph of the Guillotine

Love Seduces Innocence... (1809)

Pierre‑Paul Prud'hon: Love Seduces Innocence, Pleasure Entraps, and Remorse Follows

This allegorical painting is more straightforward than most of its kind - little mystery as to the message here.

More about this painting is here.

Caroline Murat (1809)

Jean-Baptiste Wicar: Caroline Murat

Another portrait of this lady.

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]

Equestrian portrait of Prince Boris Yusupov (1809)

Antoine-Jean Gros: Equestrian portrait of Prince Boris Yusupov 

Gros's striking equestrian portrait of Prince Boris Yusupov was commissioned by the sitter's father, the nobleman of Catherine the Great's day, N.B.Yusupov, for their estate of Arkhangelskoye outside Moscow. The boy's face, painted in miniature, is not particularly expressive, but Gros obviously enjoyed painting the high-spirited steed and exotic dress of the Russian prince, whose genealogy went back to the Nogai mirzas. The artist places the horseman in a conventional landscape far from remote, cold Russia, which he had never seen. [summary via The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow]

Here is a summary of the life of Prince Boris's father, Nikolay Yusupov.