Napoleon III 1865

Curator: This is Alexandre Cabanel's "Napoleon III," painted in 1865. It currently resides at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Editor: He seems like he’s between engagements—taking a moment's repose from…what exactly? Perhaps checking his stocks and bonds? Curator: It's interesting that you say that. There’s a kind of studied casualness, isn't there? Like a king attempting to look like an approachable, bourgeois gentleman. Note the hand placed firmly on the hip, versus resting formally on the crown's table. Editor: Right. And what is that table *made* of, exactly? Mahogany? Is it locally sourced? What’s the history of furniture production at this level in France during the mid-19th century? The velvet underneath the crown, for example, how does that textile connect with the French economy? Curator: Materiality is *always* on your mind, isn't it? It's refreshing, genuinely! Speaking of materials, the play of light across the oil paint gives the fabric and crown this beautiful luster—but at what cost? What price does one pay, or, in this case, did France pay, for this display of finery? Editor: Indeed! Court portraiture isn’t merely aesthetic; it’s a production involving seamstresses, carpenters, miners digging for precious metals, painters grinding pigments… It all speaks volumes about resource allocation, don't you think? Curator: I do, and perhaps that's why the man himself strikes me as somewhat melancholy. Is it a weariness of all that material... excess? He's standing away from his crown as though it were any old piece of ostentatious décor. Almost daring the viewer to criticize! Editor: Or maybe he's just tired of standing for the portrait. Look at his pose, it feels a bit performative. Curator: Well, empires do require performance, and aren't paintings a carefully constructed fabrication? I appreciate Cabanel for acknowledging that, through implication and quiet gestures. It hints at so much more than just surface-level bravado. Editor: Hmm, interesting perspective. It gives me much to consider in my view of material exploitation. Curator: Precisely. There's always something more lurking beneath the surface sheen.