The Emperor Napoleon I
Horace Vernet·1815
Historical Context
The Emperor Napoleon I from 1815 at the National Gallery shows Vernet painting the fallen emperor. The Vernet family had close ties to the Napoleonic regime, and Horace's paintings of Napoleon helped shape the emperor's posthumous legend. Horace Vernet's fluent oil technique allowed rapid execution of large-scale battle scenes and Orientalist compositions with a journalistic immediacy that his contemporaries found both exciting and, to some academic critics, superficial.
Technical Analysis
The portrait presents Napoleon with characteristic precision and authority. Vernet's polished handling creates an image of imperial dignity.
