How Napoleon Turned the Official Painting of His Coronation Into a Propaganda Tool
Let’s talk about the beginnings of Photoshop
You know that now, I’m a French tour guide, and I love my job. Before Covid, I spent more time walking the streets and museums of Paris than I did at home. And I pretty liked it.
I considered the Louvre as my second home, and the works of art almost like members of my family, as I saw them more than my friends and family put together. I went there with tourists and travelers, to show them around. But I also spent a lot of time there, on my own, working. I was always looking for the detail I missed on a painting, for the texture of a beautiful Roman sculpture, for the features of an incredible ceiling.
But there is one thing I love more than anything else in the Louvre: the painting of the coronation of Napoleon I, made by the French painter, Jacques-Louis David. I still don’t really know why I am so obsessed with this work of art. I am not a fan of Napoleon — definitely not — and I am not really into what happened to the French monarchs/emperors. But this work of art is absolutely amazing. Especially when you know all its secrets. Let me tell you about it.
The Coronation of Napoleon, painted by Jacques-Louis David between 1805 and 1807, with its immense…
