Teach with Collections: Jean-Léon Gérôme, Napoleon in Egypt

During the Second Empire (1852—70), Napoleon III encouraged the cult of his uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte, whose 1798 Egyptian expedition is illustrated here. Gérôme shows the legendary general in an exotic setting, before the Mamluk Tombs outside Cairo. Born slaves, these rulers owed their rise to military prowess and would have been a subject for reflection by Napoleon as he surveyed the city below. Gérôme's meticulously rendered Orientalist scenes, based on his travels to Constantinople, Egypt, and elsewhere, rival photography and form a counterweight to his recreations of Greco-Roman antiquity.

Conversation prompts:

Describe Napoleon's pose and costume and the effect they have on the viewer.

How did Napoleon relate to the figures and the architecture in the background?