Napoleon Leading The Army Over The Alps By Wiley

Now that the poem is well understood, there is a need to analyse the painting as well. Wiley, the artist of the piece “Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps”, is a contemporary artist who paints African Americans from all over the world, often in relation to aristocratic or noblemen paintings of the Classical European period. His models are often from the streets of New York City and are painted in their everyday clothes, or whatever they’re just wearing. This process of randomly selecting people who represent the country conveys a sense of “anyone can be a hero”. In this particular painting, the man is dressed in a white bandana, army uniform clothes, and chunky Timberland boots with red wristbands on both arms. A yellow drape covers him like a
This represents how the ordinary class, and especially African Americans are triumphing over their challenges and circumstances. Unlike the original painting where Napoleon’s arms are covered up in pristine leather gloves, the well-toned muscles of his arms are emphasised. The muscular arms, the facial expressions of serenity but determination seem to convey the sense of readiness and willingness to fight for the glory, recognition, and equality. The two horses are also different in that the horse in Wiley’s painting has black fur on its face and underbelly while Napoleon’s horse in David’s painting does not. This could possibly further emphasise African American culture by changing the type of horse depicted in the painting. In both paintings, there is also the commonality that both figures are fighting for something that is rightfully theirs. Napoleon was trying to return to Italy and retake the territory seized by Austrians while the pose of the man here seems to signify that he is fighting for something too, perhaps justice for the African Americans who have often been wrongly