Greatest Works Tour Year 2: Antoine-Jean Gros

Welcome back to Learning How. Today we're learning about Antoine Jean Gros. Now it's to note that it looks like his last name is pronounced Gros, but in French it is pronounced Gros and so the O is a long sound and there is no S. I know when I was doing my research it says do not pronounce the S. You will be definitely pointed out as not not knowing his proper pronunciation if you pronounce them as Gros. So his last name is Gros. Both of Gros' parents were painters and he received his first art lesson from his father. He started painting when he was six years old. By the time he was 15 years old he became a student a student of Jacques-Louis David whom you may remember from when we did the Greatest Works Tour year one. Gros is best known for his historical paintings of Napoleon. He was born in 1771 and he died in 1835. He was from France. During this time in history in 1775 the American Revolution began and in 1789 the French Revolution. The first piece of artwork we're going to study from Gros is called Napoleon Visiting the Penthouse of Jaffa. Now there's a side note that this painting is corrupt due to nudity and death. So if you are looking for this picture yourself and it's not edited be aware or make sure your parents are aware that it does contain some nudity and pictures of death. This was the first masterpiece of a series of Napoleon historical paintings and so this picture depicts Napoleon visiting the French troops where there was a plague going on. Napoleon here is shown touching a sick soldier and this is to depict Napoleon to show bravery and fearlessness. Masterpiece. A masterpiece is our key word. Masterpiece is known as a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship. So what do you think is happening in this picture and why? What kind of feelings or emotions do you think I'm just trying to evoke from you and what do you think the artist wants you to feel while looking at this painting? I would like to add um whom Napoleon Bonaparte was because I'm not sure if everybody has gotten that far in their history lesson but Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military leader and a political leader during the French Revolution. He is known as one of the greatest military minds of all time. There were some not so great things that he did because he conquered lands and obviously people died under his leadership but some of the tactics he used is considered I guess great military skill. The second piece of artwork we are going to study is called Bonaparte at Pointe d'Arcole. Leading troops in a 1796 battle. This painting is displayed at the Palace of Versailles in France and Gros was an eyewitness to this battle. This painting is a portrait. A portrait is the key word we're going to be studying here. It is a painting of a purse. The third piece of artwork we are going to study is called equestrian portrait of Prince Boris Yusupov. This painting was painted in 1809 and it was commissioned by Prince Boris's father for their home in Russia. Equestrian portraits typically depict rulers and noble warriors and in fact if you see the background in this painting it looks more like it took place in France rather than Russia since Gros had never been to Russia before so he used his own knowledge and painted the background so it looks more like a painting in France than Russia even though this is a Russian prince. Background is another key word we are going to study. A background is part of the picture that is furthest from the viewer. What do you think Gros is trying to convey through the Prince Boris's portrait? How do you think he wants you to portray him or think about him? The fourth and final piece of artwork that we're going to study from Gros is called portrait of The painting was painted around 1825 and it is now displayed at Zagreb, Croatia. This portrait shows Gros' progression to the early parts of the Romantic period. When she was younger Madame was a French socialite known for throwing expensive parties with famous people. This portrait shows her during her middle age. The key word that we are going to study from this portrait is called expression. Expression is a look on someone's face to show their emotion. What is Madame Riquemir's emotion in this portrait? We're learning how this week we are going to create our self-portraits. Gros was very much so into painting portraits of others. We are now going to create portraits of ourselves. I have some tips on how to create a self-portrait for measuring out especially your face and your features like your eye. Your eye is one eye length in between each eye so if you measure your one eye you're in the middle that's the same. So that's little tips I have that we're going to bring to class and we'll go over those in class because I feel like if I say them now you might forget them by the time you get to class so I'm going to have some worksheets for you. I'm going to help you to maybe draw a proportional face or proportional body for your self-portrait and I'll also bring mirrors so that you will be able to see yourself for that day. So you're going to create your own self-portrait. Enjoy!