# Portrait of General Bonaparte [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [DAVID, Jacques-Louis]() - Date: 1801-1850 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm ## Commentary David first met Napoleon in Paris on 10 December 1797, at one of the public receptions given to honour the victorious general. It was during the course of the dinner that David asked to paint Napoleon's portrait, a request that was soon granted. Napoleon came to David's studio in the Louvre, granting him only a single sitting of three hours, during which he was fidgety, impatient and eager to leave. From this sitting David only managed to paint the head and collar he still managed to capture the confidence and vitality of the nation's hero. The painting remained unfinished. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 51 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/beethoven/beethoven\_symphony3.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 \(Eroica\) in E Flat major op. 55 \(1803\)</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [Allegory of the French People Offering the Crown and Sceptre to the King]() - [Andromache Mourning Hector]() - [Anne-Marie-Louise Thélusson, Comtesse de Sorcy]() - [Antiochus and Stratonica]() - [Belisarius Receiving Alms]() - [Bonaparte, Calm on a Fiery Steed, Crossing the Alps \(detail\)]() - [Bonaparte, Calm on a Fiery Steed, Crossing the Alps]() - [Brutus]() - [Christ on the Cross]() - [Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine]() - [Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I \(detail\)]() - [Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()