Napoleon Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa (Bonaparte visitant les pestiférés de Jaffa) is an 1804 painting commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte from Antoine-Jean Gros to portray an event during the Egyptian Campaign. The scene shows Napoleon during a striking scene which occurred in Jaffa in 1799, during which he wished to show himself as a Christ-like figure by healing with his touch. He tried to raise his troops' morale (and perhaps also tes... more

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa (Bonaparte visitant les pestiférés de Jaffa) is an 1804 painting commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte from Antoine-Jean Gros to portray an event during the Egyptian Campaign. The scene shows Napoleon during a striking scene which occurred in Jaffa in 1799, during which he wished to show himself as a Christ-like figure by healing with his touch. He tried to raise his troops' morale (and perhaps also test his own destiny) by approaching and touching those among them who had fallen victim to a plague epidemic which had hit the French army. This is part of the collection of French paintings at the Louvre. On 18 September 1804, the painting was exhibited at the Salon de Paris, between Napoleon's proclamation as emperor on 18 May and his coronation at Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 December. Dominique Vivant Denon, who participated in Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt and was now director of the musée du Louvre, acted as advisor to Gros on it. This... less