Visual analysis: forty centuries despise you! Many people of reputed status are popularized by tall legends and first-hand accounts of their own deeds. Before the age of the Internet and the rapid spread of information, political leaders often relied on commissioning official paintings or photographs to show the public the nature of their character and accomplishments. However, these images were not always truthful in their depiction of events and could even be considered advertising or propaganda in the modern sense. Regardless of how faithful these images were to the events they depicted, rulers still took pride in the quality of the works and demanded that they be composed to be of the highest quality that time allowed. One of these leaders was Napoleon Bonaparte, the first emperor of France. Napoleon commissioned Antoine-Jean Gros to be his personal portraitist, tasked with depicting his great victories in Europe and the Middle East with dashing and extravagant paintings, in order to garner more support for his rule in France. In his painting The Battle of the Pyramids, Gros uses emphasis, symbolism, and hyperbolic contrast to further the legend of Napoleon as a noble figure and great conqueror. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The painting immediately captures the viewer's eye with its use of movement and composition, drawing the viewer toward Napoleon in the work's central frame, leisurely mounted on an alabaster white horse with gold ornamentation, contrasting with the other brown and caramel colored horses of the other characters. To Napoleon's left and right are his officers, dressed in navy blue and scarlet French uniforms and sporting dark blue bicorns and gold epaulettes, looking at him with admiration and respect. Several of them gesture to greet Napoleon by waving their sabers in the air. At the bottom right of the painting is a group of orientals, Turks and Egyptians. They are depicted (with gross inaccuracy) as wearing only cloth robes, or no clothing at all, with the occasional turban. A Turkish soldier and an Egyptian soldier extend their hands towards Napoleon and his officers in exaltation, under the burden of a Sudanese soldier fallen in combat. To their right, a bearded man dressed in a blue tunic, supports a naked man and a woman dressed in a lavender dress and a white veil. Among the Easterners is a collection of discarded weapons, shields, and paraphernalia. Far in the background of the piece are the titular pyramids, visible against the clear blue sky meeting the horizon, but slightly obscured by their distance from the foreground figures and by the clouds of dust raised during the battle. Napoleon makes a flat gesture with his left hand to attract the attention of his men, while his right hand, grasping the reins of his horse, points towards the pyramids. The elements of this painting are clearly designed to draw attention to the central figure of the work, Napoleon Bonaparte, and depict him as an almost messianic figure. Alongside Napoleon, his officers wave their sabers. Jean Lannes, the man to Napoleon's left atop the dark brown horse, swung his sword down and to the right. All of their weapons curve inward toward the center of the painting, creating something of a circle of swords “trapping” the viewer’s eye in the middle third of the composition. Everyone in the painting is also looking towards.