Neo Classical Art Style Analysis

What makes a painting iconic? For the most part it’s the buyer, which explains why Jackson Pollock’s number 5 is worth 250 million dollars. However, normally paintings with history and a story behind them are what make them iconic, and nothing has a bigger influence than historic art. What is it about historical leaders that people admire so much? Why after so many years people still fantasies about? Historical art has great influence on societies. It has not only been used to incite revolutions against oppressors, but to also maintain oppressing governments in power. My analysis will concentrate mostly on the similarities and differences of “George Washington Crossing the Delaware” and “Napoleon Crossing the Alps”, two very influential paintings
The style, originally from Rome, but its popularity exploded in France, as a generation of French and other European art students finished their training and returned from Rome to their home countries with newly-rediscovered Greco-Roman (Classical) ideals. As a testimony of the significant influence the Greeks and Romans had on Western civilization, interestingly the term itself is a merger of words derived from both ancient languages spoken by them; neos (Greek for “new”), classicus (Latin for “first class”) and ismos (Greek for “doctrine” or “ideology”). (cite)Neoclassical art style was widely adopted and popularized by French artists, since France was the center of culture and art in Europe at that time. The art movement was not limited to painting and sculpture; it was also manifested in literature, architecture and music, embraced by artists all over Europe and America. Born on the eve of the Age of Revolution, it reflected the intellectual, social and political changes of that period and it “became the semiofficial voice of the French
Napoleon wore a red coat on top of a white horse. The man who sits astride the white horse is an impressive figure. The people honor him as a leader and warrior. While he is capable of making war, he comes initially as a man of peace. That was the mythology for white horses at the time. Also his red coat symbolizes a warrior fighting for his people leading them to greatness, while also craving his name in history higher than any other French military hero. As he points to the heavens emphasizing he is just doing his heavenly right. The painting was modeled after David’s sons who stood in for Napoleon, dressed up in the uniform and perched on top of a ladder. This probably accounts for the youthful physique of the figure. Napoleon refused to pose, arguing that: “Nobody knows if the portraits of the great men resemble them, it’s enough that their genius lives there.”(cite) The painting today is located at Napoleons last residence Chateau de