Andrea Appiani

Andrea Appiani was the leading painter of the Neoclassical tradition in Italy and is perhaps best known as a key figure in fashioning the visual legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy. When Napoleon first arrived in Milan in 1796 during the First Italian Campaign, he sat for a charcoal and chalk portrait drawing by the Milanese artist. Napoleon was so pleased with the result that it led to Appiani being showered with honours, commissions, and opportunities for years to come. 

Napoleon's rise to power resulted in Appiani's ascendency within official artistic circles. In 1800, Appiani was invited to undertake a large cycle of frescoes glorifying Napoleon in the Sala delle Cariatidi in the Palazzo Reale in Milan, and from the late 1790s, he was commissioned to produce numerous portraits of Napoleon and his family. Appiani was named Senior Commissioner responsible for selecting Lombard and Venetian art for Paris. On visiting the city in 1801, Appiani was introduced to the austere Neoclassicism of Jacques-Louis David, which would have a decisive impact upon his style. When Napoleon became Emperor in 1805, he appointed Appiani as the official painter of the imperial court. In the same year the artist painted his most famous portrait of the Emperor as King of Italy (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, known also in several versions). For his service, Napoleon awarded him the Légion d’Honneur and the Order of the Iron Crown.

With the defeat of Napoleon in 1814-1815, Appiani lost his artistic security. He also suffered a stroke in 1815 which left him unable to work, and he died just two years later from a further stroke.

Prior to his Napoleonic patronage, Appiani created works of meticulous verisimilitude, for churches and private patrons. His output during the Napoleonic era predominantly consisted of portraits and monumental decorative and public works, such as the frescoes in the Palazzo Reale in Milan. His portraits often exhibit neo-classical linearity and pronounced chiaroscuro, while his historical paintings are infused with grandeur and solemnity.