Plague, Politics, and Napoleonic Propaganda c. 1800

In 1799, plague broke out in the French army during its invasion and occupation of Egypt and Syria under the leadership of General Napoleon Bonaparte. Bonaparte’s reaction to the contagion, and the representations of the disease he commissioned after his return to France, imbricate politics, medicine, and morality in complex ways and suggest interesting comparisons with contemporary debates about governmental responses to COVID-19. This lecture is presented by David O'Brien, Professor of Art History.