Search results
The Coronation of Napoleon, monumental oil painting (20.37 × 32.12 feet [6.21 × 9.79 meters]) by French artist Jacques-Louis David completed in 1806/07. The work depicts the moment during Napoleon I ’s coronation as emperor of France when he crowns his wife, Joséphine, as empress.
The Coronation of Napoleon [a] (French: Le Sacre de Napoléon) is a painting completed in 1807 by Jacques-Louis David, the official painter of Napoleon, depicting the coronation of Napoleon at Notre-Dame de Paris.
Napoleon I and his wife Joséphine were crowned Emperor and Empress of the French on Sunday, December 2, 1804 (11 Frimaire, Year XIII according to the French Republican calendar), at Notre-Dame de Paris in Paris.
Napoleon I reportedly exclaimed ‘One can walk through this painting!’ when he saw Jacques-Louis David’s depiction of his coronation ceremony. At six metres high and almost ten metres wide it is certainly an impressive work, giving the viewer a sense of actually attending the ceremony.
Introduction. On 2 December, 1804, the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris was the stage on which the coronation of Napoleon I was played out, in the presence of Pope Pius VII. The new emperor broke from tradition by crowning himself and pronouncing an oath guaranteeing the preservation of the gains of the Revolution.
This work is an extract from the Jacques-Louis David’s masterpiece Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine which depicts the Emperor Napoleon who is about to crown Josephine.
He completed the vast composition—his largest, at over thirty feet long—in 1807 and retouched it in 1808. The painting, commissioned by the Imperial household, depicts the moment Napoleon crowned Josephine empress.
