2.4 The First Consul Clickto see plate 11 Antoine-Jean Gros, Bonaparte as First Consul, 1802, oil on canvas, 205 x 127 cm, Musée Nationale de la Légion d’Honneur, Paris. Photo: Bridgeman Art Library Look at Gros's Bon 2.3 The military leader Let us now consider another relatively early portrait, David's Bonaparte Crossing the Alps, in which the then First Consul is shown at the Great Saint Bernard at the start of the campaign which led to the defeat of the Austrians at Marengo in June 1800 (see Plate 10). In fact, Bonaparte had actually crossed the Alps on a humble mule rather than 2.2 Hero or great man? Read the following passage from the Encydopédie article ‘Hero’, considering what qualities identify the hero as opposed to the great man. Which type of man seems to owe more to innate talent and ge Learning outcomes After studying this course, you should be able to: analyse paintings centred on the human figure in terms of how a work's form and content together produce its meaning explain how and why French painting came to be used and controlled by the Napoleonic regime discuss the problems of interpretation raised by Gros's Napoleonic paintings locate Napoleonic painting within the broad shift from Neoclassicism to Romanticism in French art. References Keep on learning   There are more than 800 courses on OpenLearn for you to 6.3 Seaside photography 6.2.2 Informational content Obviously for the purpose of historical record, portraits taken in the context of the family home can be more informative than those taken inside the studio with its make-believe settings. Compare the 5.7.2 Post-mortems How do Images 73 and 74 differ from the usual studio portraits of children? Make a note of the more obvious differences. 5.6.3 Honeymoons 5.6.2 Engagement and marriage Of all rites of passage celebrated in the Victorian family album, those taken at the time of engagement and marriage are by far the most numerous. This testifies to the importance vested in marriage by the Victorians. The custom of commissioning oil or miniature portraits at the time of an engagement or marriage was well established before the advent of photography. Photography enabled couples on more modest incomes to indulge a practice that became widespread among working-class families by 5.6.1 Young adults Look closely at Images 54 and 55. Can you identify the two features which distinguished a girl from a young woman in the Victorian and Edwardian period? 4.9.3 Limited characterisation The other function of lighting was, inevitably, to assist characterization. Since Robinson advised portrait photographers to show sitters as moderately calm ladies and gentlemen, the lighting in commercial work is usually quiet and uniform, without dramatic contrasts of light and shade. This was intended to suggest tranquillity, harmony and self-control, in keeping with the limited stereotypical characterization discussed previously. The use of lighting to convey dramatic characterizati 4.8.3 Personal possessions Most accessories in studio portraits were supplied by the studio. However, it was not uncommon for sitters to introduce items that held a special significance for them, such as children's toys, competition trophies and awards gained in the course of a career. As we should by now expect, any personal items were intended to reflect credit on the sitter. If we can distinguish the routine studio accessory from the prized personal possession, we may be able to elicit a few more nuggets of in Purpose By now you have sufficient familiarity with early portraits to know that photographers regularly used painted backdrops and accessories to create a sort of stage set within the studio. These backgrounds came into widespread use with the introduction of the carte de visite in c.1860. Until the Second World War, 2 scenarios remained popular: the interior setting with windows, curtains, table and chair; and the parkland setting with trees, balustrade, rustic bench or stile. This choice of backdr 2.6.2 Cracking of copper alloys Stainless steel is not the only metal to fall victim to SCC. One of the first discoveries of SCC occurred in India in the early part of the nineteenth century, when that country was still part of the British Empire. There was a large standing army that was always in need of live ammunition. The brass cartridge cases would occasionally split, and often at the worst possible time (when being fired), frequently causing injury to the marksman. So what caused such failures? The two factors n 4.2 Pose Pose followed expression on the list of the portrait photographer's priorities. A sitter's pose was intended to assist idealization by highlighting physical beauty. Photographers were required to select a pose that displayed the sitter to advantage. If your sitter be tall and thin, or short and stout, select a pose which may render such peculiarities least prominent …A sitter's personal defects may be frequently 2.2 Photographs as primary sources As a primary source of historical evidence the still photograph remains largely unexamined and unexplored. Many academic historians remain wedded to the written word and are often mistrustful or dismissive of the still image. Photographs continue to be used merely to prettify or to provide necessary breathing space in dense texts. In fact, the task of finding ‘illustrations’ is often only considered after a book is written. What could indicate more clearly that the photograph has n 2.1.1 Card mounted photographs 1860–c.1914 Acknowledgements Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce materia
Exercise
Exercise
Study another free course
Activity 24
Activity 22
Author(s):
Activity 20