David, appointed the Emperor's first painter in December 1804, had been commissioned to commemorate the coronation celebrations in four huge canvases, only two of which were to be executed (the distribution of the eagles is in Versailles).
The ceremony took place at Notre-Dame de Paris on December 2, ...
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David, appointed the Emperor's first painter in December 1804, had been commissioned to commemorate the coronation celebrations in four huge canvases, only two of which were to be executed (the distribution of the eagles is in Versailles).
The ceremony took place at Notre-Dame de Paris on December 2, 1804. Rather than the Emperor's coronation, David represents the episode that followed him, where Napoleon crowned Josephine, while Pope Pius VII gave him the blessing. The action occupies a relatively minor place in a composition initially conceived as the most colossal of the collective portraits, comprising more than a hundred figures.
Emile-Jean Sulpis was a student of Cabanel and Henriquel-Dupont. He was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1884 and throughout his career received numerous awards. He was a member of the Academy of Fine Arts from 1911.
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