Analysis of the Coronation of Napoleon Essay Example

to the fact that there were so many bodies present.

David wanted to emphasize this in the painting in order to demonstrate Napoleon’s popularity. He does this by portraying every person in detail and David cuts the painting off at some point, but he leaves the continuation of the crowd to the viewers’ imagination. In the painting one notices that the contrast in lighting and perspective places Napoleon at the center of all the viewers, in and out of the painting. What is interesting about this is that Napoleon is standing royally, while Pope Pius VII sits behind him anxiously watching.

On any other occasion the Pope would be the center of attention while everyone, even an emperor, watches anxiously. David clearly wanted to point this out in the painting to show Napoleons importance over the Church. This may not be the way that David personally felt, but because he was painting it under Napoleon’s commission David wanted to please the emperor. The fact that Napoleon was emperor is clearly noticeable. The painting shows him standing authoritatively over his wife Josephine, who is kneeling in a somewhat submissive fashion as Napoleon is going to crown her.

It was a custom of that time that the Pope would coronate the monarchs himself but the fact that Napoleon is doing it shows that the clergy will not control him as the monarchs before him were. David was a supporter of the French Revolution and this may be his political influence on the painting even though Napoleon was a son of the Revolution as well. We can also see that the way that Napoleon was dressed in the painting shows that

he was emperor and there was no doubt about it. On Napoleon’s head are the laurel leaves that were custom of the Roman imperial rulers to wear.

This crown was a symbol of power and strength. Napoleon is also adorned with a red silk cape that is embroidered in gold. The usual color of royalty at the time was purple but Napoleon broke away from this mold. Once again showing David and Napoleon’s revolutionary ties.

In the background we see that the Cathedral’s walls are also draped in red silk with embroidered gold. This shows David’s attention to detail in the painting in that the draperies are matching with what Napoleon and his wife Josephine is wearing.David models the environment of the painting to Napoleon’s ego. The attention to the detail in the background appropriates the background to the event that is being portrayed. The social-political aspects of this painting are hard to miss.

The painting portrays the way that Napoleon wanted to rule over his empire. He wanted to be the center of it and the center of all decision-making. David was commissioned to paint this in order for people to look upon the painting and remember how important the man in the center is.The painting portrays Napoleon as an absolute monarch, which couldn’t be farther from what he intended to be. This was done by David as a form of political propaganda, in order for anyone who looked upon this painting at that time would really get an idea as to the importance of Napoleon.

This mystifies the one man who was not an absolute monarch but a contemporary, ordinary emperor who reshaped the

way government by creating administrations and reshaping government more into what it is today. Works Cited Strokstad, Marilyn. Art History. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc. , 2005.