2-750-871 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Study for 'The Distribution of the Eagle Standards', c1808, (1921). 'La distribution des aigles au Champ-de-Mars'. Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821) distributes 'eagles' based on the Roman aquila of the legions of Rome, as the winged figure of Nike, the goddess of victory, floats over the troops. The standards represented the regiments raised by the various departments of France. Preliminary sketch for a painting titled 'Serment de l'armée fait à l'empereur après la distribution des aigles au champ de Mars, 5 décembre 1804', (Oath of the army made to the emperor after the distribution of the eagles at the field of Mars, 5 December 1804). Painted in 1810 by Jacques-Louis David, the scene is a military ceremony arranged by Napoleon after his assumption of power as Emperor of the French, in which he sought to revive the military ethos and pageantry of the Roman Empire. From "Napoleon", by Raymond Guyot, [H. Floury, Paris, 1921]