Great Paintings Explained: Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David

This is a remarkable image. The French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte sits astride a rearing steed, his arm raised into the air, his finger pointing onwards to the Alps mountain range which his soldiers are about to cross. I wonder how many paintings in the history of Western art have managed to distil their message so clearly, so precisely — so stubbornly — as this painting does. It is above all a picture about confidence. Napoleon Crossing the Alps gives us the leader in a moment of utter self-assurance. No matter what perils lie ahead — and crossing the Alps in the early 19th century certainly was an undertaking full of peril — the commander on his horse shows absolutely no hint of discouragement. The sky leans in at an angle, brewing with an incoming storm. In the middle distance, a line of soldiers paces up the slopes of the mountain, carrying swords and pushing wheeled cannons. However, the painting was a lie. In reality, Napoleon’s crossing had been made in fine weather, not during pulsating storms as the painting suggests. Moreover, his troops had gone ahead several days before him and Napoleon actually made the crossing mounted on a mule. <a href="https://christopherpjones.medium.com/great-paintings-explained-napoleon-crossing-the-alps-by-david-500c2e5e7348">Learn More</a>