Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David was trained as a neo-classical painter, but as he quickly became Napoleon's official painter, his artwork breached into the beginnings of romanticism in a style referred to as the Empire style.

In the first painting, he's painted Napoleon as he fearlessly rides a great white horse rearing on the edge of a cliff, heroically leading his army into battle. He uses exaggerated movement to center the flow on Napoleon in the foreground of the rigid Alps. In reality, Napoleon crossed the Alps on a mule, but thanks to David's glorifying artwork it was used as successful propaganda. 

Napoleon's coronation in the second image is painted with "the magnificence of the Empire" (Lee) in mind without over-embellishing Napoleon or his empire. Though this painting is often seen as Napoleon crowning himself, David intended it to be Napoleon crowning Josephine. This further emphasizes the idea of Napoleon being for others rather than just for himself.

Napoleon's propaganda style was to portray himself as heroic and bold, but not with sword in hand. He wanted to emphasize the idea that wars were not won with violence and were instead bravely won with calm, charismatic heroism.