Contexte

     During the Napoleonic era, artists were talented and passionate vessels used to deliver private or commissioned messages to the public. The commissioners, usually a wealthy political figure, hired artists with high status and considerable fame to illustrate an array of messages. These messages include; patriotism, religion, economy, propaganda, love, nature, history and glorification. As you will see, these artists had their own voice and in many cases were trendsetters responsible for early visual international media. Visual illustrations were significant because the European literacy rate was very low, art as a language was widely understood considering the mood and symbolism of the image.

      Napoleon Bonaparte, originally Napoleone di Buonaparte, was born August 15, 1769 on Corsica. Corsica is an island west of Italy and was an Italian province at the time of Napoleons birth, meaning Napoleon was Italian by birth not French, but he would later claim it as part of his empire. He joined the French army, when graduating from artillery school by the age of sixteen Napoleon became commander of a small artllary unit. He assended through the ranks rapidly because of his mastery of artillery in battle. His use of cannons became famous and is still studying in military schools around the world. At the conclusion of the French Revolution Napoleon seized power of France while the royal power was up in the air. Obtaining power with little resistence, Napoleon promised his adopted counrtymen that he would make France great again. Then he raised and led France's first large standing army across Europe and North Africa. Thus building an empire, forging alliances, crushing rivals and creating enemies in an event called the Napoleonic Wars.

     For these reasons, artists chracterized, demoized and romanticized depending on their relation or the relation their commioners had to Napoleon.