Le Géneral Bonaparte

Greatly influenced by ancient sculpture and Neoclassicism for both his style and intellectual approach to art, Pierre David d'Angers undertook a project to create a pantheon depicting the most prominent men and women of his time in bronze portrait medallions. This medallion of Napoleon is one of more than five hundred comprising the sculptor's Galerie des Contemporains ("Gallery of Contemporaries"). Most of the medallions for the Galerie show their subjects in profile, but David d'Angers presents Napoleon in full view as a Romantic military hero.