Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/The Coronation of Napoleon

The Coronation of Napoleon

Original - One of the most famous Imperial coronation ceremonies was that of Napoleon, crowning himself Emperor in the presence of Pope Pius VII (who had blessed the regalia), at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
The painting by David commemorating the event is equally famous: the gothic cathedral restyled style Empire, supervised by the mother of the Emperor on the balcony (a fictional addition, while she had not been present at the ceremony), the pope positioned near the altar, Napoleon proceeds to crown his then wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais as Empress.

Alternative 1 - Colour balance adjusted against Mikhail's alternative shot.

Reason

Here we have one of the most famous Imperial coronation ceremonies every painted: that of Napoleon, crowning himself Emperor. This famous image appears with a large number of history texts that discuss Napoleons rise to the throne and was twice featured in my studies of the time period. I was rather suprised to find that such a well known image had never been nominated for FP status on Wikipedia, so I decided to do the nominating myself. The image is large and as noted above is historically famous, though I leave it to our contributors to determine its worth as an FPC. TomStar81 (Talk) 04:02, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Articles this image appears in

Jacques-Louis David, Emperor, 1804, Crown of Napoleon, Sign of contradiction, Universal power, The Coronation of Napoleon

Creator

Jacques-Louis David

• Support as nominator --TomStar81 (Talk) 04:02, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
• Obviously, I haven't studied the original in depth, but this seems to hae a very strong yellow cast. Is all of that explained by aged varnish? Secondly, the image is interlaced: Wikipedia's thumbnailing software can have trouble with that, so it'd be wise to switch to non-interlaced. Other than those issues, I'd be happy to support this or a deyellowed version. Shoemaker's Holiday ^{Over 189 FCs served} 08:27, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
  • This snap shows the painting in its setting, apparently under daylight. Our version looks a tad warm by comparison, I agree. I suspect it's had a contrast boost and that's upped the saturation, which has exaggerated what's probably just a tiny colour shift. I'd be wary of desaturating/flattening it (ie undoing adjustments) as it would degrade detail and definition. Source link is bust, too. --mikaul^talk 21:26, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
    • Could always do a yellow-blue balance shift, though. I might try that Shoemaker's Holiday ^{Over 189 FCs served} 22:48, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
• For consideration - I've uploaded an edit. However, it should be noted that the image is missing a small part of the painting on the right and possibly bottom; the top and left seem more accurate. Shoemaker's Holiday ^{Over 192 FCs served} 00:48, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
• Support Alt1 Though both are good, Alt 1 does tone down the yellow nicely (so the white robes are really white). Staxringold _talk^contribs 20:05, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
• Support Alt: From what I can tell from other sources, the amount cut off is so minimal as to be almost non-existent. The white balance in Shoe's edit is an improvement. Maedin\^talk 12:03, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

Promoted File:Jacques-Louis David, The Coronation of Napoleon edit.jpg --Ottava Rima (talk) 14:17, 22 August 2009 (UTC)