Bonaparte au Pont d'Arcole ⚔️

Bonaparte au Pont d’Arcole ⚔️

Price range: €40 through €1,200

Here is my reproduction of Bonaparte at the Pont d’Arcole. This is a 1796 painting by Antoine-Jean Gros, showing an episode during the Battle of Arcole in November 1796, with General Napoleon Bonaparte leading his troops to storm the bridge.

The painting presents a three-quarter-length image of Bonaparte, holding the flagstaff of the armée d’Italie in his left hand and his sword in his right – on its blade is the inscription Bonaparte, Armée d’Italie.

The background suggests the smoke of battle, with a few houses in the distance on the left. The land bordering the river is painted in dark tones, with a smoking cannonball still visible.

At 5’5” tall Bonaparte was just an inch or so below the period’s average adult male height. The legend of his small stature was largely the work of one man: the British cartoonist James Gillray (1756-1815). Gillray’s caricatural depictions of the French general were so popular and influential that at the end of his life Napoleon said that Gillray “did more than all the armies of Europe to bring me down.”

Unlike modern armchair generals, Bonaparte was a Commander ready to put his own life at risk and to lead from the front.

 

Purchase Options

The Original Painting, Digital Download, Framed Print: Small, Framed Print: Large

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

Related products