Étude de tête

1771年3月16日

Born

late 1785

Enters David's studio

At fourteen, of his own choosing, he becomes a pupil of Jacques-Louis David and attends the studio assiduously while continuing his classes at the Collège Mazarin.

1790–1791

Death of his father

His father, whose affairs the Revolution had ruined, dies; the family grows poor, and Gros has to rely on himself alone and devotes himself wholly to painting. The year of his father's death is given as 1790; other accounts say 1791.

1793

Flight from France to Italy

With the portrait commission broken off by the Terror, Gros flees France for Italy with the help of his teacher David. He settles in Genoa and earns his living with miniature portraits.

1794–1796

Meeting Joséphine de Beauharnais and Bonaparte

Returning to Genoa in 1794, Gros meets Napoleon's wife Joséphine de Beauharnais and follows her to Milan, where Bonaparte receives the painter warmly, takes him into service and gives him commissions.

1796–1799

Inspector of reviews with Bonaparte's army

After the painting of the Pont d'Arcole Bonaparte gives Gros the post of inspecteur aux revues, which lets him follow the army; he spends several years with it.