Bonaparte Before the Sphinx

 

Bonaparte Before the Sphinx is a history painting by the french artist Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) that was made in 1886. The artwork depicts Napoleon Bonaparte, while still the First Consult of the French Republic, during his Egyptian Campaign from 1798 to 1801.

In the painting we see the Great Sphinx of Giza looming large over the landscape while Napoleon seems small and insignificant next to it. In the distance we can see Napoleon's army, but he himself stands alone before this monument. The sphinx is the only object that we can see, as it is surrounded by a lifeless desert of sand and rock.

What is he thinking as he looks at the buried statue? Is he admiring the work of the ancient pharaohs? Or are his thoughts heavy with the realization that all glory is meant to fade and be hidden by the sands of time.

The painting was made when all of this was long in the past. We who look at it now, as in Gérôme's days, know that Napoleon will make himself an emperor and that his empire will fall. We know that after him France will never again be the world superpower. Perhaps for Gérôme France is the same as Egypt - a country whose glory days are in the past.