Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole

Description

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. He is dressed in the dark blue trousers and tunic of a general of the First French Republic, with a gold-embroidered red collar. Beneath them he wears a white shirt and a black neckscarf. He also wears a gold-fringed tricolor cummerbund and a square-buckled belt bearing his empty scabbard. 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.

History

Painted in Naples in 1796, the painting passed through the collections of Napoleon himself and of Napoleon III before being sequestered after the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870. It was then reacquired by Napoleon III's wife Eugénie de Montijo in 1871, who eight years later gave it to the Louvre (now inventory number RF271). It passed to the château de Compiègne in 1901, then finally the Palace of Versailles in 1938 (inventory number MV 6314).

Related works

• Sketch at the Musée du Louvre, it was approved by Bonaparte as the basis for the final painting

Other versions at:

• Arenenberg, (Switzerland, canton of Thurgovie), Musée Napoléon.
• Saint Petersburg, Hermitage Museum
• The painting is sometimes used as a cover for Beethoven's 5 Piano Concerto in Es-Dur, Opus 73.