Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria
Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria
Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria
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42<br />
Antoine-Jean GROS<br />
French 1771–1835<br />
General Bonaparte at the<br />
Bridge <strong>of</strong> Arcole on 17 November 1796<br />
Le général Bonaparte sur le pont d’Arcole,<br />
17 novembre 1796<br />
1796<br />
oil on canvas<br />
Napoleonmuseum Thurgau, Schloss und Park Arenenberg, Salenstein<br />
Collection <strong>of</strong> Queen Hortense<br />
Austria and France had been at war since<br />
the imprisonment and execution <strong>of</strong> Marie-<br />
Antoinette. Promoted to the post <strong>of</strong> General<br />
<strong>of</strong> France’s Army <strong>of</strong> Italy, the 26 year-old<br />
Napoleon cemented his reputation as<br />
a soldier with victories over the Austrian<br />
forces in Italy in 1796 – notably at the<br />
strategically important town <strong>of</strong> Arcole,<br />
near Mantua. To commemorate his success,<br />
Gros, a former pupil <strong>of</strong> Jacques-Louis David,<br />
created this iconic portrait <strong>of</strong> Napoleon,<br />
who, with a backward glare, challenges his<br />
soldiers to follow him into the heat <strong>of</strong> battle.<br />
© COPYRIGHT<br />
This document remains the property <strong>of</strong> the <strong>National</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Victoria</strong> and must be returned upon request. Reproduction in part or in whole is prohibited without written authorisation.
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