Art as Empire

Napoleon turned art into a state-level propaganda operation with lasting effects:

• Every portrait was personally reviewed and approved
• Looting filled the Louvre and made Paris the world's art capital
• David's Coronation contained deliberate falsifications he ordered himself
• The national museum as a symbol of power traces back to his model

One falsification stands out: Napoleon's mother boycotted the coronation, yet he had David paint her into a place of honor at its center. Conquering a continent wasn't enough — he had to control how people saw the conquest.