Bonaparte Crossing the Alps | |
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Artist | Paul Delaroche |
Year | 1850 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 289 cm × 222 cm (114 in × 87 in) |
Location | Walker Art Gallery[1], Liverpool |
Bonaparte Crossing the Alps (sometimes called Napoleon Crossing the Alps, which is also the title of Jacques-Louis David's better-known version of the subject) is a 1848–1850[2] oil painting by French artist Paul Delaroche.[3][4] The painting depicts Napoleon Bonaparte leading his army through the Alps on a mule,[I] a journey Napoleon and his army of soldiers made in the spring of 1800[5] in an attempt to surprise the Austrian army in Italy.[6][7] Several versions of this painting exist: in the Louvre- Lens and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, England. Queen Victoria owned a small version of it.[8]
The work was inspired by Jacques-Louis David's series of five paintings of Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801–1805), which present a glorified vision of Napoleon "calm on a spirited horse"[9] rather than a mule, crossing Great St. Bernard Pass.