Art Sunday; Signs and Hidden Meanings

Art Sunday; Signs and Hidden Messages.

 

OR…. How Napoleon and others Manipulated the Media.

 

Before any one starts reading this, an apology, I hadn’t realised how long I had sat here, or how much I had written, I have been having fun, and this has inadvertently turned into somewhat of an epic!.......opps........sorry

Jacques-Louis David (August 30, 1748 – December 29, 1825).

 

David was a French painter, thought to be the most influential painter of his time. David had a huge number of pupils, making him one of the strongest influences in French art of the 19th century. He became an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Robespierre, and was (for a while until Robespierre fell from grace) effectively a dictator of the arts under the French Republic.

The Death of Marat, David's masterpiece.

The Death of Marat (1793)

On the 13th of July 1793, David's friend Marat was assassinated by a woman called Corday, who was of an opposing political party. It’s her name, among others, that can be seen in the note Marat holds in David's painting. Due to a skin condition Marat, a member of the assembly and a journalist, lived most of his life in his bath. The bath was the only place he could find relief from the itching. He had a makeshift writing desk constructed over his bath and it was here he sat composing lists of ‘counter revolutionaries’ who, once the list was released, would be rapidly tried and almost always found guilty and guillotined. Corday assassinated Marat in his bath by fatally stabbing him. Hence the painting……………’The Death of Marat’, a powerful representation of Marat laying dead in his bath, note of suspects in hand. This image rapidly became the instantly recognisable symbol of Marat, David, The Terror and the Revolution itself. David effectively made Marat a martyr to the cause of the revolution with this image. Marat is portrayed realistically but lifeless, the figure resembles a stereotypical classical representation of Christ at the crucifixion. Ironic in the face of both David’s and Marat’s steadfast atheism, an almost obligatory belief for true Republicans of the time. This image portrays a man almost revered by the revolution but in keeping with the revolutions creed. There are no trappings of wealth and luxury, no ostentatious décor, no reference to status, no military paraphernalia, just a beautiful corpse laying in an almost supernatural pose, dramatically shadowed by a mysterious light. We don’t see the light source but it seems to stream in from behind, illuminating parts of the body, the head, the shoulders, but leaving much of it in darkness.  The light passes over the body and hits the dark background. This creates a pale area, almost a halo effect that you expect to see surrounding an angel, except of course there is no angel, just a slight suggestion that there could be. The white drapes behind the body are stained with his blood; they hang in folds under the body reminiscent of the shroud of Christ. If you doubt the similarities between David’s portrayal of Marat and classical images of Christ compare it to The Pietà (1499) by Michelangelo, a marble sculpture in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Look at the angle of the arm, the way the body lays and the folds of cloth flowing from under the body.

The symbolism in Marat is more than a portrait of a man in the style of Christ. There is so much more in this painting.  Marat’s desk becomes his tombstone, his list of counter revolutionaries his epitaph, even in death he hangs on to his quill telling us he was a thinking man of letters right to the end.  David and Marat were both ardent atheists but like other reformers seemed to create a new kind of religion centered on the republic. This painting could be seen as the forerunner of all political propaganda paintings as used in later centuries by Lenin, Mussolini and even Hitler.

Jacques-Louis David

Napoleon Crossing the Saint Bernard Pass

David had been an admirer of Napoleon from their first meeting, struck by the then-General Bonaparte's classical features. As an artist that sort of thing was obviously very important. After Napoleon's successful ‘coup d'etat’ in 1799, he commissioned a painting by David to commemorate his ‘daring’ crossing of the Alps. It was this painting that persuaded Napoleon to appoint David as the official court painter of the regime. The crossing of St. Bernard Pass was an important military manoeuvre, it had paved the way for the French to surprise the Austrian army and win victory at the Battle of Marengo on June 14, 1800. Napoleon HAD actually crossed the Alps, and the crossing WAS at Saint Bernard’s Pass. But that is where reality and the painting part company. Napoleon rode on the back a placid mule, in weather that was calm and warm. He asked to be painted as man "calm upon a fiery steed", and this is exactly what David did. There are black stormy clouds billowing in the background, the terrain is rugged and inhospitable, the white stallion rears up against the howling wind, the horses mane and Napoleons cloak compete for the attentions of the wild winds. AND, amid this carefully composed chaos sits Napoleon, tall, proud and unflinching on his steed. He is every inch the powerful leader, completely in control of every thing, the situation, his horse and even the weather. An interesting compasisom in this painting is the face of the horse and the face of Napoleon. If you look at the horse his eyes are wild, his mane flies wildly in the wind, his mouth is open, his teeth are bared, he is one spooked horse. Then look at Napoleons face and you see a man perfectly poised, his hat is set at exactly the right angle, it has managed to escape the effects of the storm. He is handling this rearing stallion with one hand and manages with ease to hold the other hand high above his head in a perfect victorious salute. There is more symbolism here, the hand held above his head points upward and forward, symbolising his advancing and unstoppable victory.

Jacques-Louis David

The Coronation of Napoleon, (1808)

Jacques-Louis David. Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 December

One of the works David was commissioned for was The Coronation of Napoleon in Notre Dame. For his background, David had the choir of Notre Dame as his fill-in characters. At this point in Napoleons life he still associated Victory, Emperorship and power with the ancient classicism of Rome and Greece. His coronation robes were modelled on the robes of ancient emperors. His coronation ‘crown’ was modelled on the laurels of Rome, the colours in this painting tend to be rich reds and gold, the drapes would look at home in any classical painting and the architecture fits with the ancient classical theme. The whole tone of this painting says …. ‘’this is the new emperor, a emperor as good as any ancient emperor and worthy of all the respect and power of the ancient emperors’’ At this time (in France) Napoleon was always depicted, in keeping with his propaganda image, amid classical architecture and furnishings, all of which he admired and believed it enhanced his image as the new Emperor. This image was portrayed by David in several of his paintings of Napoleon. David also used battle standards in various paintings to symbolise Napoleon as victorious in battle.

Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson

Neoclassical Painter, 1767-1824

Ossian Receiving the Generals of Napoleon at the Palace of Odin (1801),

One of David's students, Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, although very obviously influenced by Davids classicism and emotive use of subject,  injected a new element of romanticism into his work. Girodet-Trioson let his literary interest take full reign in the composition of Ossian Receiving the Generals of Napoleon at the Palace of Odin (1801), painted for Napoleon's residence, Malmaison. Much of Anne-Girodet’s work, including the series for Malmaison, glorifies Napoleon. His classical training sometimes very obviously clashed with his romantic expression.

 

This painting does not portray Napoleon in the strictest sense but it portrays his changing cultural philosophy, and the leading figure bears more than a passing resemblance to him. It has been included because it is a portrayal of Napoleons Nationalism and his newly discovered desire to see France as an independent Nation with a history, culture, mythology and true sense of identity equal too, or even superior too that of Southern Europe. Although originally committed to presenting himself as a ‘Roman’ type Emperor, Napoleon soon embraced the newer Nordic mythology and, as he had previously used art to present himself as a modern day ‘Roman Emperor’, he began using it in exactly the same way to present himself as the new ‘Nordic Warrior’.

In Napoleonic France paintings depicting North European mythology and legend became a popular way to enhance the growing concept of a uniquely Northern European culture. Northern myth offered a history and sense of identity, which was separate from but equal to, the classical roots of ancient Greece and Rome. All peoples of Europe shared these same classical roots. The use of Celtic and Nordic legends allowed the peoples of Northern Europe to express their cultural separateness from those of Southern Europe. Artists used these mythologies in a way that competed with Rome for cultural superiority.

 Macpherson was a Scottish Enlightenment thinker and writer, he wrote the Ossian mythology in the 1760’s, which was translated into French, German and Italian. This book became a favourite of Napoleons and nurtured Napoleons fascination with Northern mythology. Napoleon became very attracted to paintings of this kind, which acted as an incentive to those who produced them, and the theme became very popular.  This painting shows Ossian receiving the ghosts of French warriors in the palace of Odin. The painting supports the notion that the ancient northern heroes were superior to or at least equal to the heroes of popular Greek and Roman mythology.

In this painting the French Napoleonic soldiers carry a helmet and a symbolic eagle captured from Rome, which shows victory, even in death. The leading soldier in the foreground is modelled on Napoleon himself. Reinforcing the notion of virility, the ghosts of the French soldiers retain the ability and desire to chase the Oceanic maidens. There is a combination of culture and symbolism, it incorporates French, Scottish and Gaelic elements.  The importance of this and other paintings depicting North European legend was the complete break with classical traditions of ancient Greece and Rome and the emergence of a distinct cultural heritage belonging to North Europe. The historical legitimacy of the stories became secondary to their impact on the growing tide of Nationalism, which swept Northern Europe. It was not only the content that broke with tradition; the composition was also radically different from paintings in the traditional classical style.

The specific relevance to Napoleon of this painting, besides the symbolic representation of him in the foreground, is the emphasis on France as a Nation with National traditions, myths, legends and culture utterly independent from, and even superior too, those of the old orders.

Joseph Denis Odevaere

(Belgian, b. 1778 - d. 1830)

Lord Byron on his deathbed as depicted by Joseph-Denis Odevaere c.1826 Oil on canvas

With this painting we seem to have come full circle from 'death of Marat'.This artist was another of Davids students, who possibly paid him the greatest accolade of all with this painting of Lord Byron. This painting is so very obviously intended to mimic Davids ‘Death of Marat’, painted 23 years earlier. Lord Byron on his death bed has so many stories to tell, painted just one year after David’s own death in 1825, it was a tribute to a great Artist, teacher and friend. By reproducing it in this way Joseph Denis validates David’s original story telling and pays homage himself to the revolutionary Marat. By associating Byron with Marat he is recognising Byrons role in the Greek War of Independence and portraying him as a true revolutionary in the same league as Marat. This painting is back to the classicism of Rome, Byron has a roman laurel wreath in his hair, the Laurel was the roman symbol for Victory, the window looks out on classical architecture, the bed is a classical tomb and the statue at Byrons head is engraved in Greek.  Marat was painted holding on to his quill but Byron is shown with his lute still tucked under his arm and his sward resting on the head of the bed.  Although politically committed to the cause of Greek independence first and foremost Byron was a romantic Poet, as shown by the Lute still under his arm and the sward present but not foremost. The drapes over the bed conceal Byron’s deformed foot showing him as physically perfect, rather than the beautiful but crippled man he was. The drapes over Byron echo the shroud like drapes behind Marat, continuing the association with a religious painting in a completely non-religious subject.

I think these five paintings are all absolutely brimming with symbolism, signs and hidden meanings. They are paintings that can be ‘read’ as well as ‘seen’. ‘Reading’ a painting is exciting and interesting but part of the beauty of these works is that even if you just glance at them, maybe you see them in a book, or on the net, or if you are lucky enough, in a gallery, you can enjoy them just as a visual treat. To enjoy a book you NEED to ‘read’ it, but to enjoy a painting you only need look at it, reading it as well is a bonus.