The Coronation of Napoleon

Artistic improvements and commentary courtesy of Wimsey Bloodhound

The Coronation of Napoleon (Jacques-Louis David, 1806, Musée du Louvre, Paris). Jacques-Louis David was a neoclassical painter and the official painter to Napoleon Bonaparte. This painting commemorates Napoleon crowning himself and Josephine Emperor and Empress in Notre Dame Cathedral while the Pope looks on from the high alter (probably in horror since Napoleon usurped the crown of France). David himself attended the event but took several liberties with the scene, including making Josephine look younger and making Notre Dame look smaller in order to make the diminutive emperor appear more imposing. But it is a little known historical fact that Napoleon was much more attached to his Hound than he was to his wife (an all too common phenomenon amongst husbands) so it makes much more sense that Napoleon would bestow the great honor on his beloved Great Hound. We notice how well the Hound fits into the strong diagonal that David creates from the high altar to the magnificent Hound, thus appropriately making the Hound the focal point of the painting. And the Pope can still be justifiably horrified. (“ The Coronation of Wimsey”).

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