The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-21
HOW DID HE LOOK2
Napoleon's Fictitious Portraits Fixed
Up to Impress the Masses.

NdpOleOn'S FlC ClClOuS PORTRAITS Fixed
Up to Impress the Masses.
From the Magazine of Art
When David was commissioned to paint
his picture of Napoleon crossing the Alps
he asked the First Consul to name a day
when he would sit. ''Sitl'' said Bonaparte;
'to what gooda Do You suppose the great
men of antiquity sat for their portraits?'
"But paint you for your own times, for
men who have known and seen you; they
expect a good likeness" GA good likeness
1t is not the exactitude of the feat
ures, the little wart on the nose,
that makes a likeness. What ought to
be painted is the character of the pbysiog-
nomy. No enc inquiries if the portraits of
great men are alike; it is quite enough if
they manifest their genius" This story
shows how early the purpose was formed in
BonaparteS mind to render himself the
subject of a myth, and to this end he sought
to employ poets as we'll as painters. 1t was
totally unnecessary; for his apparition in
Italy, in 1896, was in itself quite sufficient
to render him a legendary hero A young
man Of austere manners, ascetic appearance,
with the head and face of an ideal Caesar.
saying little but doing much, deferred
by no scruple and by no obstable, lead
ing his dazed and fascinated army from
ullu W 4ulldIl, liOIu lnlldl 10 V eTOUd, from
Verona to Venice, he could not fail to arouse
the imagination of friend and foe. Por-
traits more evidently mythical were not
slow to appear, sometimes accompanied by
enthusiastic verses. Bonaparte careering
through Italy on flying steed, with Fame
blowing a trumpet and holding in readiness
the palm of victory, well expresses the
popular idea of the hero of Arco'a. But
foreign nations were not thus fascinated
L.
terror and a danger. His portraiture at
this time was chiefly in the hands of the
caricaturists, and it is curious to notice
how difficult they found the effort to
make it ludicrous and ugly. Rowlandson's
First Consul, with his powdered hair, his
feeble face, stiff cravat, cambria tipped long
red mantle, short frock, tri-colored scarf,
and brigand hat, surmounted with a tri-
colored plume, must have appeared to our
grandfathers like some Twelfth Night char
acter. But Gillray, with better art, really
gave the public something like a resem-
blance of Bonaparte. Not much, however,
could be- done beyond rendering his thin
features excessively gaunt and grim,
and representing his height as Lilli-
putian. Little Bouncing B." or Little
BCney," was Johnny Bulls good-humored
notion concerning the man who over the
water took such gigantic proportions. The
EngilSn cdIlCauurlsbS conceive MIN as an
iron hearted homicide, capable, when need
full, of being most insinuating and plau j.
BILE. Their portraiture has all the character
of popular myth, profoundly true in it
self, but singularly coarse and brutal,
handled after their own manner In one of
Gillray's designs we get Bonaparte's por-
trait rendered as hang-dog and felonious as
possible in the midst of all kinds of en-
blems intended to set forth the popular
English notion of republican France.
Around the portrait are written the words
"And God made Bonaparte and rested from
his laborsn