This is a huge canvas – the most monumental picture of those that were ordered by David the new Emperor of France. It depicts the coronation of Napoleon and Josephine, held on December 2, 1804. Initially, David was going to portray Napoleon crowning himself, but not wanting to belittle the authority of the Pope, chose the moment of the coronation of Josephine.
Many figures on the canvas are easily recognizable. Before starting to create a picture, David made a lot of preliminary sketches and even built a model of the church, filling it with figures of people. During the work he was assisted by the artist-decorator from the opera house, who marked the perspective, and the pupil of David – Rouget, who sketched the composition.
The canvas was finished in November 1807. Napoleon, who saw him, was delighted. “Well, very good!” Exclaimed the emperor, “David, you managed to guess my thoughts and introduce me as a French knight…” After minor amendments, the picture was exhibited in the Louvre in February 1808, and later, in the same year, with triumph adopted in the Salon.
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