PAINTING ANALYSIS (english) – Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine

In August 1802, a referendum had established the French Consulate –important step toward the identification of the Republic of Napoleon– At the beginning of 1803, the attempt to obtain the rights to a waiver of the Louis XVIII crown of France was unsuccessful. Before the refusal, it brought to mind the myth of the Carolingian Empire, less shocking than the monarchy for the supporters of the republic, as the notion of empire is also intended in a more abstract way: Bonaparte or the Revolutionary France, extended their empire on the whole of the conquered territories.

In April 1804, the Council of State suggested the formal establishment of the Empire, and the Senate adopted the new constitution on May 18 1804, confident about the "Government of the Republic" of Napoleon Bonaparte, hereditary emperor. This senatus consultum was validated by a referendum.

It was appropriate to give to the new dynasty the divine protection of the Holiness and the Coronation: The ceremony took place at Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 December 1804, in the presence of Pope Pius VII, who proceeded with the two ceremonies. On the facade of Notre Dame, inclined for the occasion of a triumph based on four columns. Whose two symbolized the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties and other two, "Good Cities of France"(Bonnes Villes de France*). Knowingly forgetting the Capetians.

Against any use, Napoleon wished the crowning of himself and the crowning of his empress Josephine, despite the desire of the Pope to proceed to the sacrament and the coronation. The pope blessed the crown. The artist represents the time when the emperor was crowning his beloved Josephine.

In this massive painting, it revolves around the three main protagonists: Cambacérès and Lebrun, ex-consuls become (respectively) chancellor and treasurer; Talleyrand, Eugène de Beauharnais, new marshals as well as the Sisters of Napoleon, responsible to bring the cover behind Josephine. The presence of Madame Mother on the balcony, which in reality was absent during the ceremony, should also be noted. The artist, Louis David, is also represented in this forum with his traditional signature in the artistic community. The Coronation is designed as the meeting of two worlds, from a sacred right to a secular left. Napoleon is the link that is established between the divinity symbolized by the pope and the resulting republican universe. Only the high crosses held by the cardinal Caselli in the center marks the meeting point between these two entities.

However, if there is solemnity, the painting does not reflect any religious feeling. The artist said "I knew that we were not virtuous enough to be republican” during the Coup of 18 Brumaire**. 
If he had originally intended to paint a kind of hero crowning in an overbearing gesture, he seems to have finally reduced his work around a force evoking the luxuriousness and the magnitude of the new imperial glory.

-hande

Details about the actual painting:
• Name:
< Sacre de l'empereur Napoléon Ier et couronnement de l'impératrice Joséphine dans la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, le 2 décembre 1804 > (Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine in Notre-Dame de Paris, December 2, 1804)
•Oil on canvas
•Height: 610 cm (240.2"). Width: 931 cm (366.5")
•Location: Palace of Versailles
•Physical description: Joséphine kneels before Napoléon during his coronation at Notre Dame. Behind him sits pope Pius VII.
depicted place: Notre Dame de Paris