page_title: Veronese Easter
section_title: Prelude
hierarchical_section_title: Veronese Easter / Prelude
caption_attribution_description: English: In May 1800 Napoleon crossed the Alps, and in June was his victory at Marengo, Italy, over Austria. He is shown on a mule with a peasant leading him over the Great St Bernard Pass. The painting opposes the propagandist painting by Napoleon's artist.
context_page_description: The Veronese Easter was a rebellion during the Italian campaign of 1797, in which inhabitants of Verona and the surrounding areas revolted against the French occupying forces under Antoine Balland, while Napoleon Bonaparte was fighting in Austria. The uprising received its name through association with the anti-French uprising of the Sicilian Vespers of the 13th century. Incited by oppressive behaviour by the French, it began on the morning of 17 April 1797, the second day of Easter: the enraged population succeeded in defeating more than a thousand French soldiers in the first hour of fighting, forcing them to take refuge in the town's fortifications, which the mob then captured by force. The revolt ended on 25 April 1797 with the encirclement and capture of the town by 15,000 soldiers, who then forced it to pay a huge fine and hand over various assets, including artwork.
context_section_description: Napoleon's objective, even as early as spring 1796, was the conquest of rich Venetian Lombardy, and in effect French troops, initially welcomed on the assumption that their stay would be brief, had reached Brescia and Verona by the end of the year : these cities were technically under Venetian domination, and thus the foundations were laid for the events of the following year.  The French troops arrived in Verona on 1 June 1796, occupying the military strong-points and billeting troops in other buildings despite the Republic of Venice already having declared its neutrality.
  The relations between the population and the Venetian departments on one side, and the French troops on the other, was difficult from the start, for the French troops behaved more as occupiers than guests.  Bergamo, in contrast, resisted the French invasion.
caption: Paul Delaroche, Napoleon crossing the Alps
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