French Painting of the 19th Century in the National Gallery of Art

Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) A Girl with a Watering Can Canvas. 39½ × 28¾ inches. Dated 1876 Chester Dale Collection
by Grose Evans Curator of Extension Services
Washington, D. C.
Copyright 1959 Publications Fund National Gallery of Art Washington, D. C. Revised 1967
Designed, Engraved, and Printed in the United States of America by The Beck Engraving Company
The story of French painters during the nineteenth century is an exciting one, colored by personal rivalries and revolutions in taste. In the face of an indifferent or jeering public, artists often had to make great sacrifices to achieve the sincere expression of their ideals. Firmly established academic painters bitterly opposed all young artists who tried to create new styles, and the inertia of popular taste lent such authority to the Academy that artists could only be original at their own peril.
Behind it the Academy had the weight of traditionally accepted theory and the splendid accomplishments of the Old Masters. The theory, growing from ancient classical concepts of art, seemed infallible and, on such a theoretical basis, the five hundred years preceding the nineteenth century had produced an extremely impressive art. Imitation of idealized figures was the chief aim of the academic painter. By showing nature “as it ought to be,” the artist served philosophical and ethical ends; he could educate mankind by painting morally improving illustrations of heroic deeds. On this premise art had been raised during the Renaissance from a handicraft to rank with the liberal arts. Academies had arisen to prove the merits of art, and why should such august institutions be challenged?
Remarkably free from the allegorical pomposity of most official portraits, this picture presents Napoleon I with reserved dignity. The emperor himself approved it and, upon its completion in 1812, complimented David. Dressed in his favorite costume, the uniform of the chasseur de la garde with a general’s epaulettes, Napoleon wears the Legion of Honor and the Order of the Iron Cross, which commemorates his earlier coronation as king of Italy. He seems to have just risen from his desk, on which lies the Code Napoléon , the codification of French law which he promulgated.