Salon of 1808

The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David

The Salon of 1808 was an art exhibition held at the Louvre in Paris which opened on 14 October 1808.[1][2] It featured paintings, sculptures, prints and architectural designs from leading figures of the First French Empire.

Background

The Salon had been held since the seventeenth century but during the Napoleonic era it became a showpiece for images celebrating the regime of Napoleon and the wider Bonaparte dynasty.

It was held the same year as Napoleon, at the height of his power, hosted the Congress of Erfurt a follow-up to his triumph at the Congress of Tilsit. However, the year also saw the Peninsular War develop into a serious conflict for France, with the May uprising in Spain and the intervention of British forces after Napoleon placed his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne.

Exhibits

One of the highlights of the exhibition was The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David. Depicting the 1804 Coronation of the Emperor and Empress, it was finished the previous year. David also exhibited The Intervention of the Sabine Women and Napoleon in Imperial Costume.[3]

A number of paintings portrayed scenes from French military campaigns of the last decade. Notable amongst them was Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau by Antoine-Jean Gros depicting the recent War of the Fourth Coalition.[4] Other showed events from the victorious Austerlitz Campaign against Austria in 1805.

Amongst the various genre paintings exhibited by Louis-Léopold Boilly two directly references the ongoing war Departure of the Conscripts and The Reading of the Bulletin of the Grande Armée.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Johnson p.13
  2. ↑ Baetjer p.29
  3. ↑ Johnson p.13
  4. ↑ Thoma p.152

Bibliography

  • Baetjer, Katharine. French Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Early Eighteenth Century through the Revolution. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019.
  • Johnson, Dorothy (ed.) Jacques-Louis David: New Perspectives. University of Delaware Press, 2006.
  • Thoma, Julia. The Final Spectacle: Military Painting Under the Second Empire, 1855-1867. De Gruyter, 2019.
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