The Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I - Essay Example

The Analysis Of The Artwork Introduction The artwork of choice is ‘The coronation of Emperor NapoleonI and Coronation of the Empress Josephine in Notre-Dam De Pari. The artist is Louis David an artist in the Age of Enlightenment. Like most of David’s artwork, the painting elaborated the revolution of politics, economics, and religion in such a manner that they drifted away from the tradition of authoritarianism. Consequently, the association of the painting with the Age of enlightenment was evident in its inclination towards reason and common good, while abandoning baroque to turn down aristocratic, ornate, and frivolous extremes of of rococo. As evident in coronation artwork, the painting embraced heroic morality and nature. It also embraced the classics, the ancient apostle of reason, and the simplicity and calm grandeur of the highly-ranked in the society. Having been victorious in his campaigns in Italy and Egypt, Napolean won military prestige and became the first Consul following the Brumaire Coup D’etat. Although the artwork shows Empress Josephine being coronated by Napoleon, it was Napoleon who had first coronated himself on December 2, 1804 at Notre-Dame Cathedral. Napoleon had been consecrated by a Pope just as his predecessors Charlemagne a thousand years before. This was a great way of securing his authority in the French Catholic and Monarchic tradition. Nonetheless, the ceremony of the crowning of Napoleon distanced itself from the church through facing the high altar only for Napoleon to crown himself and facing the congregation. After the self-coronation, Napoleon crowned the Empress to demonstrate that he was more distinguished, less authoritative, and more of a “French Caballero”. The dimensions of the painting of the coronation of the Empress is 621 × 979 cm (244.5 × 385.4 in), and uses the oil on canvas medium. This paper contextualizes the artwork by David from the political, economic, religious, gender, technology, regional, religious, ethnic, and generational perspectives. Generational Perspective Traditionally, Coronation ceremonies were painted and David borrowed heavily from previous coronation painting. The best example was the Coronation of Marie De Medici by Reuben. Having witnessed the Coronation of Emperor Napoleon first-hand, David, inspired by Reuben, borrowed the layout of his painting and had participants pose. Like in previous coronation paintings, the artwork highlights the protagonists in the centre and illuminated with a beam of light. Emperor Napoleon is, however, keen to observe the tradition of holding the ceremony in the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne and in the presence of the clergy. The use of art in commemoration of the coronation powerfully brings out revolution in French and the concern regarding church-state power association. Instead of embracing absolutism, Napoleon is brought out as a fabled opponent who exemplified the mission for liberty, as the artwork underscored the emperor’s authority for crowning his wife after crowning himself (Gardner and Kleiner 757). Furthermore, Napoleon did not observe the tradition of holding his anointment for the week before the coronation with the difficulties and delays of getting the Pope to the Paris being the main reason. Consequently, the anointment was combined with the coronation just as was the case with the previous malicious story of Duchess d’Abrantes. Combining the anointment with the coronation meant that Napoleon grabbed the crown from the king to crown himself, despite the traditional way of having the Pope as the employers overlord. In order to win the Pope, Napoleon negotiated with Cardinal Papal Caprara to offer him assistance in regaining lost papal territories and returning the French people to the Catholic Church. Religious perspective All French coronation ceremonies took place in cathedrals as a way of demonstrating collaboration with the church and agreeing to the presence of the Pope and the clergy. David’s artwork shows the Pope and the clergy behind emperor Napoleon as he coronates Josephine. Unlike other coronations, the Pope assisted by the clergy provided the altar where the Emperor’s crown and other regalia were placed. However, upon blessing them, the Pope was expected to crown the emperor and his wife. From the artwork, Emperor Napoleon holds the Charlemagne Crown, over Empress Josephine’s head to crown her as his wife even though it was not on her own right. The impression of the artwork is the separation of power of religion since it was the Pope’s responsibility to perform the coronation, yet the newly self-coronated emperor went ahead to coronate the empress (Kleiner 746). The presence of Pope Pius VII in the extravagant coronation ceremony was ironical and brought out the aspect that the Pope only added a religious milieu to the ceremony that had already been planned to end the Emperor’s submission to the Pope and Rome. Besides, the presence of the Pope and the clergy was aimed at fulfilling the Napoleon’s wish of religiously sanctioning his marriage, but not making his confession or taking the communion at the post-coronation mass. These compromises depicted a deviation from past coronation ceremonies where they were considered an irrevocable part of the ceremony. However, a closer look at the artwork indicates the Pope raising his right hand as if in the act of benediction while three of Napoleon’s sisters proudly stand behind Josephine as the ladies-in-waiting. Gender Perspective From the artwork, Empress Josephine knelt down with her head bowed down and bent forward ready to receive her crown. The picture depicts submissiveness as she kneels down and folds her hands in a position to show obedience and humility, and as the central point in the artwork. Besides becoming an Empress, Josephine became queen after the coronation. In the event, around five princesses are present behind Josephine to carry her robe and not carry her train. Another woman depicted in the artwork was Napoleon’s mother who is placed is central and proud position to depict her blessing to her son’s actions even though she was absent in the real sense (Burton 141). Although Napoleon’s sisters seem impressed to assist in carrying Josephine’s robe, two were displeased and intended to fell her. The artwork brings out the beauty and an incredible sense of flawless fashion that effectively graced the coronation occasion, and that was emphasized by the Napoleon Code on how to treat and protect women. As the empress, Josephine’s dress depicts her position as the emperor’s wife with gold fringe bottom, a heavy and beautifully embroidered train, and gold-trimmed poofy sleeves. Josephine’s clothes also bring out a tremendous richness of colours in a background that evokes her social status, the Empress. The softness nature of her portrait brings out a supportive Josephine ready to remain by the side of her husband Napoleon and live to her duties as the distinguished lady of the empire. The distinction of gender roles is also evident from the painting. Through the act of crowning the Empress, Napoleon depicts masculine virility and his confidence and rigidity in his stances. He publicly and confidently despises the traditions that required the pope to coronate the Empress to coronating her himself. In addition, the emphasis crown himself in the coronation ceremony depicted Napoleon’s readiness for authority and submissiveness of the people of France (Burton 141). Conversely, Josephine in this artwork plays the stabilizing role in her family besides the divorce that was underway during the coronation. Economic Perspective From the artwork, Emperor Napoleon managed to have Empress Josephine dressed up in white silk Coronation dresses. These dresses were then splendidly embroidered with gold. For instance, the golden crown of laurel leaves worn by Napoleon cost about 8,000 Francs. Additionally, Napoleon’s Coronation robe was embroidered using velvet characterized by powdering of golden imperial bees and huge letter N bordered by intensely interraced olive, oak, and laurel branches and costing approximately 15,000 Francs. Finally, the ermine lining on Napoleon’s robe cost about 15,000 Francs. Conversely, Josephine’s robe constituted of the ermine lining of approximately 10,300 Francs while its velvet and gold embroidery was worth 16,000 Francs. As for the crown, girdle, and diadem for Josephine, the cost was about 15, 000 Francs. Besides wearing expensive clothing for the coronation, the reconstruction of the Notre-Dame Cathedral cost about 23,500 Francs. The reconstruction constituted including an unmanned balloon with 3000 lights that resembled an imperial crown. This expensive reconstruction was not necessary since there were other cathedrals where that had not been ruined during the revolution. Other expenses went to clearing the areas surrounding the Notre-Dame Cathedral including the streets. In order to match with the coronation dresses, the Cathedral was whitened with lime while the interiors comprised of hanging drapes of velvet, silk, and fabrics. Comparable to the coronation dressings, the Drapes were decorated with the empire insignia comprising of letter ‘N’ and stars, bees, laurel wreaths, and oak leaf garlands. Another element in complete accordance with the ceremony were decorators that in part masked the gothic element of the cathedral such that it brought the effect of neo-Greek temple constituting of roman Grandeur. Political perspective From the Artwork, Napoleon has already coronated himself in the presence of the Pope. Politically, his decision of including church representatives in the ceremony without allowing their participation in the coronation was only to fulfill the need for divine approbation. As of 18th May 1804, Napoleon had already been proclaimed Emperor Napoleon I by the French senate through a message sent to Napoleon by Saint Cloud. The coming to power of Emperor Napoleon occurred at a very sensitive time characterized by changing political atmosphere. Despite the turbulence, Emperor Napoleon sought to find an identity by forcefully imposing his expectations on the French people. According to Benson (6), Emperor Napoleon was convinced the only way France could not return to a monarchy government was through military dictatorship by 1799 and staged a coup d’etat against the directory. Besides eliminating monarchy, Napoleon also sought to separate the state from the church. In the painting, Napoleon crowns his wife despite the Pope been around to crown her. He further undermines the church’s authority over state matters and tries to prove that the state will always be in control to the extent of applying force. Furthermore, Napoleon’s preference for the painting was to indicate to France and the world that politics were changing under his reign to become more complex. The concentration on Josephine also indicated the commencement of Napoleonic era that Josephine and Napoleon’s offsprings would become heirs and his empire would rule forever. Regional Perspectives As suggested by the painting, the Napoleonic era, just like the French revolution era were characterized by rapid political changes that left France at the center of European events. For most European monarchies, there was fear that ­revolution ideas would be borrowed from France. The painting brings out Emperor Napoleon as a man of stature and power, while his action of coronating himself and his wife brings him out as a person with a complex personality. As the emperor, the painting proves that he was willing to continue with his action and pursuit of boundless ambition to conquer more nations and expand the territory of France (Kreis n.p). As an emperor, Napoleon initated the shaping of public opinion through dictatorship whereby he used secret agents, executions and arbitrary arrests just like dictators before him. Regionally, Napoleon also used his power to defeat nations like Austria, Russia, and Prussia to the become a virtual continent ruler. Where needed, he attacked these nations through offensive attacks unlike defensive attacks, to take his victims by surprise and speed. Just as it was unexpected for Napoelon to coronate his wife, he focused on confusing his opponents through supplying newspapers with wrong information such that his enermies did not know what to expect of him, and for him to easily conquer them. Regionally, Napoleon conquered ations like ancient Rome and in order to gain the trust of the people, he offered them offers they could not refuse (Kreis). These is comparable to the presence of the Pope and the clergy in the coronation, but not their participation. Every conquered state became part of the Grand Empire, but all were exploited as satellite states for the good of the France. Napoleon as an unreteriating army and ruler managed to conquer most of France’s enermies and control a huge territory including trade, piracy, and smuggling. However, Napoleon’s regional invations and conquering came to an end upon his removal as emperor and exiled to St. Helena off the coast of Africa. The fall of Napoleon was contrary to his thought that he would be accepted into the circle of European monarchs the moment he forced himself into being an emperor (Kleiner 12). Ethnic perspective The painting reveals a form of extravagance that could be associated with the need to be recognized as belonging to a high social class. Despite being one of France’s greatest risk taker and military commander, Napoleon was born in Ajacio Corsia and so was his wife. The two were not French nationals and compared to the great France aristocracies, the two were rated as pretentious and poor (Ahap 6-7). However, having being born when Corsica was being taken possession of by France, Napoleon was simply a subject of the king and not a citizen of France just like everyone else. Back then, there was no idea of citizenship and this meant that as one of the inhabitants of French Islands, he and his wife became French citizens. As a leader, Napoleon I intended to have a government (Ahap)where everyone experienced uniformity, efficiency, and symmetry. He achieved this goal through the approach of requiring that the French people become his subjects. Consequently, Napoleon I managed to bring about signs of a rational organization that saw one mind transmit impulses even to the most distant and most actively oppressed members. Technological Perspective Technologically, the painting depicts and era of new innovations and inventions. To begin with, this venue had been reconstructed upon destruction during the revolution against the requirement that it had to be destroyed (Ahap 8). In addition, Napoleon established a new Napoleon Code that codified the law of the French Revolution. One of the new requirement in the code was that upon marriage, women would acquire their husband’s nationality and take up marital, maternal, and domestic chores while men determine all matters of public interest.Napoleon, like his predecessors gave room for developing art and artists like David who painted the portrait of the coronation of Empress Josephine. Conclusion To sum it up, this paper contextualizes the painting of the coronation of Napoleon I at Notre Dame Cathedral in terms of political, gender, technological, generational, economical, ethnic, regional, and religious perspective. The painting intensely represents the coming into power of a new ruler and leader. As acknowledged through the Napoleon code, the new era separated gender roles and clearly defined the need to protect women. Through his act of coronating his wife, Emperor Napoleon paved way for national, regional, and world leaders on the need to acknowledge women and protect them from individual male brutality while setting terms for women treatment. Although Napoleon was not of France nationality, he managed to fight and conquer French enermies for the good of France and its citizens. Evidently, the painting also depicts the end of an era where the church and the state had equal powers, to an era of separating religion and the state with the state being the overall source of power. This transition occurred at at sensitive time when France was experiencing the fruits of revolution and Napoleon set precedence for other European nations to follow. Works Cited Ahap, Pojer. "Napoleon Bonaparte: An Assessment by Historians & Contemporaries." 2015. Web. 10 March 2015. . Benson, Catherine. "Changing Times, Changing Allegiances: Jacques-Louis David." Dissertation 2010. Burton, June. Napoleon and the woman question : discourses of the other sex in French education, medicine, and medical Law : 1799-1815. Lubborck: Texas Tech University, 2007. Gardner, Helen and Fred Kleiner. Gardners art through the ages. Boston: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2013. Kleiner, Fred. Gardners Art through the Ages: Backpack Edition, Book E: Modern Europe and America. New York: Cengage Learning, 2015. Kreis, Steven. The HIstory Guide. London: The History Guide, 2000. Print. Read More