Theme and Variations: Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne

1806
Theme and Variations
Relating Music and Art
Curated by Becky Reilly

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne, 1806



The Neoclassical era represented a departure from the supposed frivolity of the Baroque and sought a return to Classical civilization.  Art became more subdued and stately, and Roman and ancient Greek symbolism began to infiltrate architecture, music, and other media.  Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Napoleon Bonaparte's contemporary, bedecked his emperor in such in Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne.  He holds Charlemagne's scepter in his right hand, recalling the glory of the Holy Roman Empire, and celebrates the earlier Romans with his golden, Caesar-like laurel wreath.  On the rug, elevated by the step, lies the French Imperial Eagle, Bonaparte's own battle standard.  As Napoleon had seized the art stores of conquered kingdoms and transported them to the Louvre, Ingres had the opportunity to model his paintings on those of the old masters.  But critics disliked his interpretation of Napoleon at his coronation for its seeming confrontation and coldness.

Beethoven initially named his Third Symphony (Eroica, 1804) for Napoleon, believing he embodied the admired tenets of the French Revolution.  But Napoleon realized that stability was more crucial for France than continued pursuit of revolutionary idealism.  When Napoleon established his imperial rule in France, however, Beethoven denounced him as a dictator and destroyed his symphony's title page that carried the dedication.  The lengthy piece displays a large range of emotion, even within each movement.  It portrays the cycle of life, from a heroic march to funereal music and back.  The driving rhythm and incorporation of martial instruments evoke combat and triumphal marches.  The piece testifies to military and ideological heroism, enlightenment in the face of absolute monarchy, an idea it will not relinquish even as its movement in France dissolves.

Beethoven and Ingres present quite different portraits of the emperor.  Ingres, a student of Napoleon's court painter Jacques-Louis David, attempts to portray Napoleon as a new Augustus Caesar, founder of an empire.

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The Bather of Valpinçon

1806
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, The Valpincon Bather, 1806

At first glance, The Valpinçon Bather passes on a sense of calming simplicity. Sitting on the edge of the bed, the model is framed by tapestries that highlight the arching curve of her back. The staging is minimal: only green draperies and white linen bed sheets surround the sole subject of the painting—the bather. The folds and pleats of bed sheets accentuate the smoothness of her back while the heavy, solid green color on the draperies contrast the weightless quality of her flesh. The lighting is incredibly delicate; the model is bathed in diffuse light, as if a transparent gauze veil covers the surface. She seems consumed in her own world, unaware of the intrusion. 

During his career, Ingres takes on an unrelenting journey searching for the “ideal beauty.” He said, "I take as my example the great Poussin, who often repeated the same subjects." Ingres focuses on sensuous female nudes, a subject he is now most famous for. The Valpinçon Bather is considered the precursor to many Ingres’s later nudes, notably The Turkish Bath, with the same female nude model on the foreground. Despite the similarity, The Turkish Bath depicts an overly sexual theme whereas the model in The Bather conveys the exact opposite. 

More than a century later, the calm, idealistic portrayal of the bather inspired Man Ray, an American photographer, to create a series of photograph titled Le Violon d'Ingres (Ingres's Violin). Man Ray, an admirer of Ingres, altered the classic nude by rephotographing prints of f-holes onto the body. He photographed his favorite model, Kiki, in a setting and pose reminiscent of Ingres’s enchanting painting. As a tribute to Ingres, Ray’s transformation made the female body a violin, which is Ingres’s greatest passion besides painting. The title of the famous photograph eventually became an idiom in French, meaning a second hobby beyond the one by which a person is mainly known.

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