Napoleon Apartments

I have been working on a series of paintings that are done primarily from the model.  After my session ends, I begin by creating the space, including color and objects, around the figure.  The objects are compiled from numerous museum resources including the limited collections of Cincinnati Art Museum and Taft back home and now, the Louvre and D' Orsay here. I'm forcing relationships between art history, working from the nude model and creating collaged spaces that show multiple historical examples of a particular  figure or myth such as Diana at her bath, etc.  In one of these paintings, Pompeiian Odalisque, a number of items have been placed upon two surfaces.  Its the juxtaposition of these items that weigh in on the content and take a little of the pressure off of the figure.

So many of these items and spaces are coming from loaded art historical movements and from Hall-of-Fame collections from places such as Louvre, Greece and Pompeii.  In looking for Empire styled furniture, I came up empty-handed and was trying to figure out where I get some reference other than looking at 19th century painters who may have used in their works.  I had heard about the apartments my  first visit back in 1997, but never made the effort to see them,  This time I wanted to see exactly what the Louvre had on display and it completely blew my mind.  Here is just a handful of images from Napoleon's Apartments.

Its remarkable how many antique galleries and shops in Paris carry this type of furniture.