Since historical documentation is this canvas' only excuse for being, it is important to point out that this is not the retreat from Moscow. Napoleon and his staff are returning from Soissons after the battle of Laon. And this is very probably just what they looked like that day. Meissonier, true to form, went to unbelievable trouble to make certain that each square inch of canvas be true to detail. He was thorough to an extreme; to him research was the backbone and sinew of art. That is what makes reproduction of his work so valuable in textbooks of history. We have seen this painting so frequently reproduced in our schoolbooks that it is conceivable that Meissonier's conception of Napoleon is the basis of a popular fancy that people in institutions, suffering from delusions of grandeur, inevitably stand all day with their right hand clutching at their hearts through the second and third buttons of their jackets.

Back to Famous Paintings in Paris, about Paris, and my Tips

Need accommodation in Paris? Visit my apartment in front of the Louvre: