Pros And Cons Of Jacques-Louis David

Napoleon Bonaparte was remembered as the General and leader of the French army, the ruler of France as their First Consul, and the Emperor of France. Some thought positive of Napoleon, others thought negative of him, and Napoleon himself obviously thought positive of himself, too:
¡§Napoleon was a brilliant military commander who carefully planned each campaign, using speed, deception, and surprise to confuse and demoralize his opponents.¡¨ -Marvin Perry (Perry, 122)

¡§I closed the gulf of anarchy and brought order out of chaos. I rewarded merit regardless of birth or wealth, wherever I found it. I abolished feudalism and restored equality to all regardless of religion and before the law. I fought the decrepit monarchies of the Old
¡§Napoleon at St. Bernard¡¨, which was painted by artist Jacques-Louis David in 1800, was a portrait of Napoleon as he leads his troops through the Swiss Alps. The French Revolution and Napoleon created dramatic events, which made a change in time period from Neoclassicism to Romanticism (Smith). There were many ways that Jacques-Louis David organized the painting so that it was considered a Romantic painting. Those ways were that it was a dramatic painting, for it showed a noble pose by Napoleon, it had dramatic lighting, and the horse that Napoleon was riding showed diagonal lines, which created the movement of the horse (Smith). There were many signs of nature in the painting also. Such as the mountains and the sky in the background, and the cape on the Napoleon¡¦s back. You can see that the wind is blowing through Napoleon¡¦s cape by the way that David painted it (Smith). During the era of Napoleon as a General, he was famous for use of light artillery (Smith). It shows that he was famous for his artillery in the painting, for it is noticeable that Napoleon¡¦s men are seen in the background pushing a canon up the mountain (Smith). This symbolizes that Napoleon will lead his men through the mountains (Smith). Then, at the bottom of the picture, there are two rocks below Napoleon that say Bonaparte on one and Hannibal on the other. This is important because Hannibal, who was a Carthaginian General of Rome for eighteen or nineteen years, crossed the Swiss Alps during his time as General (Smith). These rocks show that since Hannibal crossed the Swiss Alps during his time as General, then Napoleon will fulfill the same objective (Smith). An interesting fact about this painting is that there is a recording that says that Napoleon crossed the Swiss Alps on a donkey (Smith). If this was true, then Napoleon would definitely not have wanted David to