Antoine-Jean Gros

Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835), French romantic painter, best known for his historical paintings chronicling the career of Napoleon I. Born in Paris, Gros received his early training from his father, a miniaturist. In 1785 he entered the atelier of the famous neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David, who brought him to the attention of Napoleon in 1793, launching Gros's career as a history painter.

Gros's first major work was Bonaparte at Arcole (1796, Galerie des Battailles, Versailles), followed by a succession of enormous canvases; Napoleon Visiting the Pesthouse at Jaffa (1804, Louvre, Paris), Battle of Aboukir (1806, Versailles), Battle of Eylau (1808, Louvre), and Battle of the Pyramids (1810, Versailles). Gros also painted a number of grandiose portraits of the emperor and his entourage, including Bonaparte as First Consul (1801-1802, Musée de la Légion d'Honneur, Paris) and Second Lieutenant Legrand (1810, Los Angeles County Museum of Art). In all these historical works, Gros conveys a sense of action and heroism. After the fall of Napoleon in 1815, Gros replaced the exiled David as professor at the École des Beaux-Arts and was made a baron by the restored Bourbon monarchy. His late work includes many mythological scenes in a forced neoclassical style (see Neoclassical Art and Architecture); their unpopularity with both the critics and the public drove Gros to doubt his abilities. When his final canvas was badly received at the Salon of 1835, Gros drowned himself in the Seine. His work was much admired by the French romantic painters Eugène Delacroix and Théodore Géricault.