Napoleon: The Immortal Emperor

by Gerard Gengembre, David Chanteranne, Pierre-Jean Chalencon

This lavishly illustrated book retraces the meteoric career of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), the "little Corsican" who rose from the ashes of the ancien régime to become the most charismatic and powerful European leader since Alexander the Great. Accompanied by paintings, drawings, engravings, caricatures, sculpture, film stills, posters, and other examples of Napoleonic iconography, the text tells the story of the leader's life, his myth, and his enduring fame over two centuries. An inspired master of propaganda, Bonaparte was acutely aware of his image at every stage of his progress, from the lean man of action painted by Gros in the 1790s through Ingres's Zeus-like sovereign of 1806, to the tragic, fallen hero apotheosized in stone by Rude. Later depictions of Napoleon cast him as Romantic hero and unsurpassed military strategist but also as Corsican despot and anti-Christ. In addition to work by artists ranging from the court painter David to Larry Rivers in our own time, the book presents clothing, jewels, furniture, porcelain, and silver from Malmaison and other Napoleonic residences, each a paradigm of Empire elegance. All ?nd a place in a book whose fascinating combination of history, biography, and the arts is sure to ?nd a wide audience.

Genres: History, European History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 2003

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous pictures on nice heavy paper.
I'm always wondering tho, why people choose to write a book about somebody they clearly detest!?
This is another author that can't stand Napoleon & this time it's not even an Englishman. He's French. But then again, Napoleon was an Italian from Corsica after all.
There are more photos here than I've found anywhere & they're beautiful. But damned near every one of these pics has a comment about it being more propaganda by the inventor of propaganda, Bonaparte. You'd think this was written by a woman scorned, like say, Josephine.
It's truly a lovely book and would make a great gift and I'd recommend it for those who LIKE the subject. Just don't take the commentary as gospel.
I'd give it six stars were it not so biased.
P.S. I'm curious that I cannot find in the bibliography of this book any mention of de Las Casa's "Memorial of St. Helene" which the author referred to so frequently throughout the entire book. I did however look it up and found it online @openlibrary.org

[cam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the focus on iconography, not only during his rise and fall in the 18th century, but how the following centuries has kept the Napoleonic myth alive. And Napoleon has yet to die! However, there were many typos and grammatical errors. The language at times was too lofty to a point where I wasn’t able to grasp the point.

[Rob Markley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very different Napoleon book - more about how he is depicted and the legend surrounding than the story of. Excellent idea and delivered well but not as interesting as I'd hoped

[Sebah Al-Ali · Rating 1 out of 5]

قراءة تعيسة. لم أنهيه. سأبحث عن غيره.

[Vincent Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my - find another source for history of Napoleon.

[Clark Knowles]

Lots of pretty pictures.