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(soft piano music)
Man: We're in National Gallery in Washington DC,
and we looking at a Jacques-Louis David, Emperor Napoleon
in his study at the Tuileries.
Lady: This is what people think of when they
had an image of Napoleon.
Man: This is the archetype of Napoleon.
Lady: Yeah! This is it.
Man: He's in control of most of Continental Europe.
Lady: Yeah. France has extended it's power.
Man: To the Australian Empire, Italy, much of
the Mediterranean, in the low countries. All
his, of course, this is before his defeat to the English.
Lady: But, it is after the French Revolution, and
the beheading of King Louise XVI.
Man: Which the artist actually voted for.
Louise, actually, was a [unintelligible 0:40)
Lady: The beheading of the king, right. Then Napoleon
comes along and David becomes the painter to Napoleon.
Man: To his court in the sense,[Pauline] as Emperor,
he's become a new king in so many ways and so ...
Lady: Not quiet, maybe becasue one of the things about this portrait is
that it shows Napoleon had a work as a military
general and a leader.
Man: As a Civic Leader.
Lady: Exactly. He's working on his code of laws
which we can see over on the right on the table.
So, Napoleon, yes, he's a [destit]. He's a ruler
of France. Perhaps he's in David's mind. He's not quite as bad.
Man: He was worshiped by the French.
David would owe a great allegiance to Napoleon who
will take him out of prison, where he had been.
Interestingly enough, David had been in prison
in the tuilerie, which was to become Napoleons palace.
Lady: Probably, Napoleon never sat for this portrait
in the way that we imagine people sitting for portraits.
Man: No.
Lady: He was a busy man, obviously.
Man: This would have been done from memory,
from sketches, and from other portraits.
Lady: Yeah. He's, obviously, very idealized.
He probably didn't look quiet as youthful and
as handsome as this in reality.
Man: Nor necessarily so in control.
Lady: He's in command.
Man: There is a real sense of his power in the world.
Lady: Yes, but also a sense of his ... in a way not like Marat
that David painted for the Revolution showing a man
who's laboring for the stage, for the good of
the French people. This is a piece of propaganda.
Man: That is no question, and differentiating himself
from the monarchy which has been so discredited.
I think that's absolutely right.
Lady: We've got the candles which is burned down.
We have a sense of him working through the night.
It looks like it's 4 am. Got the code of laws
he's been working on. We have a sense of all his
various responsibilities and his dedication to the state.
Man: There's a sense of real reassurance.
I think this is true propaganda of the state.
That was Davids brilliance wasn't it?
Lady: Yes.
Man: David is coming out of the neoclassical
tradition which he largely constructed. Those
techniques, those traditions are still present here.
Lady: Sense of clarity.
Man: Yes, and raking light. There's also a kind of, I don't
want to say romanticism, but kind of softening and
idealizing that is distinct from Davids earlier
work. I think points towards this little development
of the academy of the 19th century.
Lady: Yes, absolutely. Of course, after the fall
of Napoleon, Davids going to be exiled and die in Brussels.
Man: It's a fantastic moment in history.
Lady: It is.
Man: In so many ways.
Lady: Iconic image.
(soft piano music)