Bonaparte Crossing the Alps (also called Napoleon Crossing the Alps, despite the existence of another painting with that name) is an 1848–1850 oil-on-canvas portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, by French artist Hippolyte Delaroche. The painting depicts Bonaparte leading his army through the Alps on a mule, a journey Napoleon and his army of soldiers made in the spring of 1800, in an attempt to surprise the Austrian army in Italy. The two main versions...
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Bonaparte Crossing the Alps (also called Napoleon Crossing the Alps, despite the existence of another painting with that name) is an 1848–1850 oil-on-canvas portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, by French artist Hippolyte Delaroche. The painting depicts Bonaparte leading his army through the Alps on a mule, a journey Napoleon and his army of soldiers made in the spring of 1800, in an attempt to surprise the Austrian army in Italy. The two main versions of this painting that exist are in the Louvre in Paris and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, England. Queen Victoria also obtained a reduced version of it.
The work was inspired by Jacques-Louis David's series of five Napoleon Crossing the Alps paintings (1801–1805). David's works also show Napoleon's journey through the Great St. Bernard Pass, but there are significant stylistic differences between the two conceptions. Delaroche's Napoleon is cold and downcast, whereas David's wears a pristine uniform, and is idealized as a hero....
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