Bonaparte Crossing the Alps

portrait

Already in 1840 Louis-Philippe had consented to the return of Napoleon's body for a state burial in Les Invalides, thus officially incorporating him into French history. But with this continuing process of rehabilitation came a fresh appreciation of the great man's vulnerable humanity. In 1848 Louis-Philippe's favourite history painter, Paul Delaroche, painted his own account of Napoleon's Saint Bernard crossing.

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About the Artist

Paul Delaroche

1797 – 1856

French painter, one of the leading pupils of Gros. He achieved great popularity with his melodramatic history scenes, engravings of his work hanging in thousands of homes. Often he chose subjects from English history, as with two of his most famous works, The Little Princes in the Tower (Louvre, Paris, 1831) and The Execution of Lady Jane Grey (National Gallery, London, 1833). They are Romantic in flavour, but academically impeccable in their draughtsmanship and detailing. After a period when such pictures were totally out of favour, his work is once again being treated seriously.

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