Dome

Following Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815, David, a leading political figure in the French Revolution and First Painter to the Emperor, went into exile in Brussels. There he painted General Gerard, who had also been forced into exile in 1816. Gerard was made a Baron by Napoleon after the battle of Wagram and was named Count of the Empire in 1813. This, the first portrait David painted in Brussels, is remarkable for its clear, bright color and sharp realism. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, webpage; 9/3/2004)detail, half-length