Napoleon Bonaparte Fireback - firebacks

Description

This fireback represents Bonaparte crossing the Alpes as depicted by Jacques-Louis David in five large scale oil painting painted for the First Consul between 1801 and 1805, one is in the Malmaison, one in Vienna, one in Berlin and the other two in Versailles. A very romantic scene Bonaparte is portrayed, according to his own wishes, as "calm, mounted on a fiery steed" as he passed the Alps in 1799 to reinforce his dominance over Northern Italy. The central scene is framed in a circle; stylized fire bombs are depicted in the four spandrels. The carving is both detailed and bold like the subject itself.