Gros, Antoine, Baron

(1771-1835)

   painter

   A romantic painter, best known for his historical paintings chronicling the career of Napoléon Bonaparte (see napoléon i), Antoine Gros was born in Paris, the son of a miniaturist. He entered the atelier of jacques-louis David, who brought him to the attention of Joséphine de Beauharnais, who then introduced him to Napoléon. Gros's first major work, Bonaparte at the Bridge of Arcole (1796), was followed by a succession of enormous canvases, including Bonaparte Visiting the Pesthouse in Jaffa (1804); The Battle of Aboukir (1806); and The Battlefield of Eylau (1808). All are in the louvre or at Versailles. Gros's paintings, which convey a sense of heroism and action, helped to forge the myth and mystique of the imperial era. Gros also painted several portraits of figures of the imperial court and the heroes of the Empire. Under the restoration, Gros replaced the exiled David as professor at the École des Beaux-Arts and was made a baron. His late work also includes many mythological scenes, but in a formalist neoclassical style. Their unpopularity with both the critics and the public, however, made Gros doubt his abilities and, when his final canvas was badly received at the Salon of 1835, he drowned himself in the Seine. Gros's work was much admired by the romantic painters eugène delacroix and THÉODORE GÉRICAULT.