The Coronation Of Josephine, Att. To Alexandre Benoit Jean Dufay Known As Casanova (1770 - 1844)

Attributed to Alexandre Benoît Jean Dufay, known as Casanova (1770–1844), this oil on canvas—once folded and later laid down on panel—offers a satirical reprise of David’s Coronation of Napoleon. By deforming faces, stiffening silhouettes, and amplifying gesture, the painting turns a state icon into its critical counterpart. A unique testimony: not a print, but a painted parody of the grand manner, born within studio practice rather than the marketplace of caricature.
Dated to the first third of the nineteenth century, the work sits at the crossroads of late Neoclassicism (discipline of line, ordered composition) and emerging Romantic sensibilities (heightened drama, subjective touch), while engaging the European culture of caricature. Around Dufay orbit Gérard, Girodet, Ingres, and Gros; this painting does not oppose them so much as place their official rhetoric in perspective, revealing the mechanics of power’s representation.
Its material history—old folds “memorized” in the paint layer, subsequent mounting—supports the hypothesis of discreet circulation under the Empire or the Restoration. As such, the piece illuminates the tension between propaganda and critique, between an official image and an insider’s view from the studio.
For a museum or a discerning collector, the interest is twofold: a document of Napoleonic visual culture and a rare case study in painted satire. It is a valuable milestone for understanding how, in the nineteenth century, history painting could generate its own critical reading—an exceptional, singular witness to the dialogue between image and power.

A catalogue entry is available on request.