Napoleon Crossing the Alps
Jacques-Louis David (1801–1805 (series of five versions))
Jacques-Louis David turns a difficult Alpine passage into a <strong>myth of command</strong>: a serene leader on a rearing charger, a <strong>billowing golden cloak</strong>, and names cut into stone that bind the crossing to Hannibal and Charlemagne. The painting manufactures <strong>political legitimacy</strong> by fusing modern uniform and classical gravitas into a single, upward-driving image <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup><sup>[3]</sup><sup>[4]</sup>.
