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Two Great Historical Leaders and Their Legacies in Art by Miguel Bermudez

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Two Great Historical Leaders and Their Legacies in Art by Miguel Bermudez TWO GREAT HISTORICAL LEADERS AND THEIR LEGACIES IN ART BY MIGUEL BERMUDEZ Catherine the Great &Napoleon Bonaparte Portrait of Catherine II in Napoleon Crossing the Alps, her 50s, by Johann Baptist romantic version by Jacques- von Lampi the Elder (1780s, Louis David in 1805 Kunsthistorisches Museum) 12 ART MARKET MAGAZINE 13 TWO GREAT HISTORICAL LEADERS AND THEIR LEGACIES IN ART AN INTERVIEW WITH SUSAN JAQUES BY MIGUEL BERMUDEZ atherine the Great, Empress of Russia and Napoleon I, Emperor of the French were both unique, powerful, influential and fascinating individuals Cthat through their force and ambition, created empires with long-lasting world impacts. One of the key aspects for both historians and art scholars is the profound involvement of both leaders in the importance of art as a symbol of knowledge, power, success, and enrichment both materially and spiritually. The plundering of art objects, particularly those of great value was not new to the history of the conquerors. It was demonstrated by Alexander the Great and during the Roman, Spanish and Portuguese empires during their conquests. However, the plunder of art by Napoleon Bonaparte and acquisition of art by Catherine the Great was used stragetically to achieve both national and personal goals that would transcend each of these leaders’ reigns. Susan Jaques, a distinguished author has produced two fascinating books on these great historical leaders and their approach to art. For each of us seeking a connection between life and art, we highly recommend Susan’s books. Susan was able to join us for a brief interview, which is highlighted below. MEB: What motivated each of these extraordinary figures to pursue art? Did they have exhibited curiosity in their youth? S.J: Interestingly, both Catherine the Great and Napoleon’s interest in art developed as adults in parallel with their soaring political ambitions. Both were foreigners who seized power in coup d’états and used art to legitimize their reigns. After deposing her husband, The Hermitage version of the Catherine found herself on shaky ground Susan Jaques Raphael Loggia. because she was German. Photography by Meb3 © All Rights Reserved. 14 15 She began amassing a S.J: Both Catherine the Great and Napoleon’s world-class art collection use of art evolved with changing political for St. Petersburg (the circumstances. Catherine was a bibliophile with foundation of today’s a large personal library and she especially prized Hermitage Museum) both to books on art and architecture. Early in her reign, legitimize herself as tsarina after Russia defeated the Ottomans, she ordered and help transform Russia’s statues and paintings to glorify her victories. The image. self-taught tsarina became a passionate, hands- on collector and patroness of neoclassical art Napoleon, a Corsican-born and architecture. military hero who replaced the Directory regime with Unlike Catherine, Napoleon was not a the Consulate and later connoisseur. But he recognized the powerful established the First Empire, propaganda value of great art and architecture. stole great masterpieces As a young general leading the Italy Campaign of art for the Louvre with in 1796, Napoleon demanded specific artworks each of his victories. It was and quantities in his peace treaties. He part of his strategy to turn was most interested in Rome’s antiquities – Paris into the new Rome, packing up masterpieces from the Vatican Europe’s cultural capital. like the Laocoön and Apollo Belvedere. He From the start, both rulers spun his Egyptian Campaign into a cultural carefully controlled their and intellectual victory, inspiring a craze iconography. Catherine had of Egyptomania. By 1804 when Napoleon herself depicted as Russia’s proclaimed France an empire and himself enlightened, cultured emperor, his taste shifted from Republican ruler. Before seizing power, Rome to imperial Rome. “Men are only as great Napoleon enhanced his as the monuments they leave behind,” he said. heroic reputation by minting Channeling the Caesars, he commissioned two medals of himself and his triumphal arches and the Vendôme Column victories. Later, he has after famous surviving monuments of ancient himself portrayed as Caesar Rome. in a Roman toga and laurel MEB: There is both a personal and political wreath. MEB: How do they differ in their initial art dimension to both these leaders towards art and collecting? What were their prime interests in history. Did Catherine actually develop a passion MEB: Fascinating. Once the field of art? for her pieces through learning? Did Napoleon have each of these leaders that passion and how was he educated on what to started noticing art in S.J: While there are fascinating parallels in obtain? the early stages of their their motivations toward collecting, there was political careers, did they one very important difference. Catherine the S.J: Catherine developed a genuine passion for art consciously plan future Great bought art; Napoleon stole it. There and architecture. For example, a beautiful book acquisitions? are two exceptions worth mentioning. When of Volpato’s engravings of the Raphael Loggia at her troops put down an uprising in Warsaw in the Vatican inspired her to commission an exact 1794, Catherine ordered them to confiscate the replica for the Winter Palace. Unlike Catherine, renowned Zaluski Library. Napoleon did buy who never left Russia as tsarina (save a trip to her the storied antiquities collection of his Roman newly annexed Crimea Peninsula), Napoleon was brother-in-law, Camillo Borghese. seldom in France. From the battlefields of Europe, he That collection remains today at the Louvre. micromanaged numerous projects for Paris with the help of a loyal group of advisers. He entrusted his art plunder to his talented museum director Dominique 16 ART MARKET MAGAZINE 17 Table of the Great Commanders, 1806-12 (hard-paste porcelain & gilt bronze over wood), French School, (19th century) / Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2018 / Bridgeman Images Vivant Denon, known as “the packer.” S.J: Catherine’s art trove was originally Fascinatingly, Napoleon did commission intended for private display. For propaganda tables from the Sevres porcelain factory. One purposes, she shared her impressive featured Alexander the Great surrounded by acquisitions with members of the diplomatic antiquity’s most famous commanders; the corps and aristocratic guests at the Winter other starred Napoleon and his generals. Palace, Chesme Palace, and Catherine Palace at Tsarskoe Selo. The most famous pieces of MEB: Once all these art treasures began Napoleon’s art loot were installed for public to arrive in St. Petersburg and Paris, were display at the Louvre, renamed the Musee these acquisitions admired or observed Napoleon. With its treasures, the museum privately by both Catherine and Napoleon? quickly became a tourist mecca. Some Were they intended to be private or publicly art was diverted to decorate Napoleon’s The Hermitage version of the displayed? residences – Josephine’s Malmaison and Raphael Loggia. Photography by many of the former royal palaces. Meb3 © All Rights Reserved. 18 ART MARKET MAGAZINE 19 Designers Percier and Fontaine also The Bronze Horseman, Etienne-Maurice redecorated these residences in the Falconet, photograph new Empire Style, their militaristic by Ruth Cousineau spin on neoclassicism. MEB: Was Catherine objective in her art collecting intended for internal or external displays of power and sophistication? S.J: Not surprisingly, Catherine the Great developed very strong opinions about art and architecture. Among her greatest commission, favorite artists was Rembrandt, who the equestrian statue of uniquely enjoyed his own gallery at Peter the Great known the Winter Palace. As a proponent of as the Bronze Horseman, the Enlightenment, she disapproved survived the Siege of of nudity in art unless the subject Leningrad and has was mythological. She so disliked become a national icon. the sentimental style of the popular Catherine’s posthumous French portraitist Elizabeth Vigée statue in St. Petersburg Le Brun that she had her to redo a stands near the Russian double portrait of her granddaughters. National Library, originally Catherine thought that Vigée had built by Catherine as the depicted them looking like French Imperial Public Library. pug dogs! A strong proponent of neoclassicism, Catherine redid Napoleon’s Arc de Rastrelli’s baroque interiors at the Triomphe at the top of Winter Palace and Catherine Palace. the Champs Elysees, recently in the news as the focus of the Yellow MEB: Did Napoleon consciously Vest protests, is a national accumulates art for a national icon. For its design, MEB: What was the lasting impression that each of audience rather than a architect Chalgrin supersized the Arch of Titus in their approaches to art collecting had on the rest of demonstration of power with the rest Rome. Based on Trajan’s Column, the Vendôme Europe? of Europe as his audience? Column commemorates Napoleon’s 1805 victory MEB: Did they also utilize the Gonzaga Cameo, 3rd at Austerlitz. Topped during the Paris Commune S.J: Catherine the Great’s stealthy approach to century BC sardonyx, of 1871, the column was rebuilt with a new statue S.J: Napoleon’s accumulation of art was architecture and statuary to reinforce gift from Josephine to art collecting stunned Europe, which had long their legacies? If so, what has been the Alexander I in 1814, of Napoleon in military garb instead of a toga. A intended as a show of power, French State Hermitage considered Russia a cultural backwater. Her cultural superiority, and patriotism. On impact? Museum, photo by Ruth fundraising campaign is currently underway to acquisitions of the collections of Pierre Crozat and his way to invade Egypt in spring 1798, Cousineau restore Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel Sir Robert Walpole resulted in laws in France and the young general said, “If I were master S.J: Catherine was a passionate by the Louvre, created as a grand entrance to the England to protect cultural patrimony.
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