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Put Your Face/Pet in a Masterpiece
Bonaparte at the Bridge of Arcole (1796). Artist: Antoine-Jean Gros
Bonaparte at the Pont d’Arcole (French: Bonaparte au Pont d’Arcole) is a 1796 painting by Antoine-Jean Gros, showing an episode during the Battle of Arcole in November 1796, with General Napoleon Bonaparte leading his troops to storm the bridge.
The painting presents a three-quarter-length image of Bonaparte, holding the flagstaff of the Armée d'Italie in his left hand and his sword in his right - on its blade is the inscription Bonaparte, Armée d'Italie. He is dressed in the dark blue trousers and tunic of a general of the First French Republic, with a gold-embroidered red collar. Beneath them he wears a white shirt and a black neck scarf. He also wears a gold-fringed tricolor cummerbund and a square-buckled belt bearing his empty scabbard. The background suggests the smoke of battle, with a few houses in the distance on the left. The land bordering the river is painted in dark tones, with a smoking cannonball still visible.
