Salon of 1808

The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David

The Salon of 1808 was an art exhibition held at the Louvre in Paris which opened on 14 October 1808. It featured paintings, sculptures, prints and architectural designs from leading figures of the First French Empire.

Background

The Salon had been held since the seventeenth century but during the Napoleonic era it became a showpiece for images celebrating the regime of Napoleon and the wider Bonaparte dynasty.

It was held the same year as Napoleon, at the height of his power, hosted the Congress of Erfurt a follow-up to his triumph at the Congress of Tilsit. However, the year also saw the Peninsular War develop into a serious conflict for France, with the May uprising in Spain and the intervention of British forces after Napoleon placed his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne.

Exhibits

One of the highlights of the exhibition was The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David. Depicting the 1804 Coronation of the Emperor and Empress, it was finished the previous year. David also exhibited The Intervention of the Sabine Women and Napoleon in Imperial Costume.

A number of paintings portrayed scenes from French military campaigns of the last decade. Notable amongst them was Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau by Antoine-Jean Gros depicting the recent War of the Fourth Coalition. Other showed events from the victorious Austerlitz Campaign against Austria in 1805.

Amongst the various genre paintings exhibited by Louis-Léopold Boilly two directly references the ongoing war Departure of the Conscripts and The Reading of the Bulletin of the Grande Armée.

Gallery

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  Portrait of Antonio Canova by François Gérard
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  Portrait of the Empress Josephine in Coronation Robes by François Gérard
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  Portrait of Talleyrand by François Gérard
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  Portrait of Joseph Forlenze by Jacques-Antoine Vallin
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  Equestrian Portrait of Jerome Bonaparte by Antoine-Jean Gros
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  General Lasalle at the Siege of Stettin by Antoine-Jean Gros
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  Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau by Antoine-Jean Gros
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  Napoleon Pardoning the Rebels at Cairo by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
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  The Battle of Austerlitz by Louis-François Lejeune
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  The Battle of Mount Tabor by Louis-François Lejeune
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  Surprise du Pont du Danube by Guillaume Guillon-Lethière
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  Napoleon Awards a Russian Soldier the Legion of Honour at Tilsit by Jean-Baptiste Debret
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  Napoleon Receiving the Keys of Vienna by Girodet
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  The Meeting of Napoleon I and Tsar Alexander I at Tilsit by Adolphe Roehn
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  The Intervention of the Sabine Women by Jacques-Louis David
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  Departure of the Conscripts by Louis-Léopold Boilly
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  A Game of Billiards by Louis-Léopold Boilly
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  The Reading of the Bulletin of the Grande Armée by Louis-Léopold Boilly
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  The Card Sharp on the Boulevard by Louis-Léopold Boilly
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  The Academy by Louis-Léopold Boilly
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  The Clemency of Napoleon by Marguerite Gérard
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  Caius Marius Amid the Ruins of Carthage by John Vanderlyn
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  The Consulta of the Cisalpine Republic in Lyon by Nicolas-André Monsiau
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  Marshal Ney Presents the Soldiers of the 76th Line with their Colours by Charles Meynier
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  Napoleon Receiving the Senate Deputies in Berlin by René Théodore Berthon
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  La place Vendôme et la rue de Castiglione by Étienne Bouhot
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  Napoleon at the Bridge Over the Lech at Augsburg by Claude Gautherot
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  The Burial of Atala by Girodet
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  Meeting between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII in Fontainebleau Forest by Jean-Louis de Marne
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  Entry of the French Army into Munich by Nicolas-Antoine Taunay
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  The Death of General Valhubert by Jean-François Pierre Peyron
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  Napoleon Receives the Queen of Prussia at Tilsit by Jean-Charles Tardieu
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  Bonapare Visiting the Fountains of Moses in 1798 by Jean-Simon Berthélemy
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  Monsieur Picard and His Family by Pauline Auzou
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  Une jeune fille pleurant son pigeon mort by Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet
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  The Fly Catcher by Isabelle Pinson
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  A Young Woman Just Received a Letter from Her Husband by Marguerite Gérard
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  The Judgement of Paris by François-Xavier Fabre
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  Charles V Picking up Titian's Paintbrush by Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret
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  The Last Communion of Atala by Pierre Jérôme Lordon
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  The Shepherds at the Tomb of Amyntas by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
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  Studio Scene by Marie-Gabrielle Capet
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  Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon
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  The Abduction of Psyche by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon
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  Henry IV Having Dinner with the Miller, Michaud by Alexandre Menjaud
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  Cimabue and Giotto by Nicolas-Antoine Taunay
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  The Bride's Garter by Nicolas-Antoine Taunay
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  Monks in the Cloister of the Church of Gesù e Maria, Rome by François Marius Granet
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  View of the River Bidassoa by Alexandre Millin du Perreux
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  The Invention of Painting by Louis Ducis
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  The Origin of Painting by Antoine-Claude Fleury
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  The Three Ages by François Gérard
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  The Clemency of Caesar by Abel de Pujol
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  Las Casas malade soigné par les sauvages by Louis Hersent
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  Saint Vincent de Paul Taking the Shackles of a Galley Slave by Fortuné Dufau
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  Saint Louis's Deference to His Mother by Fleury François Richard
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  Portrait of Michel-Louis-Étienne Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély by François Gérard
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  Portrait of Camillo Borghese by François Kinson
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  Portrait Justin de Viry by François Kinson
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  Portrait of Madame Riesener and Her Sister by Henri-François Riesener
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  Portrait of Vivant Denon by Robert Lefèvre
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  Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Lebrun de Rochemont by Robert Lefèvre
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  Portrait of Marie Walewska by Robert Lefèvre
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  Portrait of Pauline Bonaparte by Robert Lefèvre
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  Portrait of Pierre Zimmerman by Antoine-Jean Gros
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  Jeanne-Émilie Leverd as Roxelane by Adèle Romany
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  Portrait of Joseph Dominique Fabry-Garat by Adèle Romany
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  Portrait of Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier by Jean-Louis Laneuville
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  Henriette de Verninac as Diana the Huntress by Joseph Chinard
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  Penitent Magdalene by Antonio Canova
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  Baigneuse by Joseph-Charles Marin

See also

• Royal Academy Exhibition of 1808 held at Somerset House in London

Bibliography

• Baetjer, Katharine. French Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Early Eighteenth Century through the Revolution. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019.
• Johnson, Dorothy (ed.) Jacques-Louis David: New Perspectives. University of Delaware Press, 2006.
• Thoma, Julia. The Final Spectacle: Military Painting Under the Second Empire, 1855-1867. De Gruyter, 2019.