The Funeral Procession of Alexander the Great 1940

Andre Bauchant made this painting of The Funeral Procession of Alexander the Great with oil paint, likely in his studio in France. Look at the procession winding through this craggy, mountainous landscape, painted in such detail. I wonder if Bauchant felt a connection to Alexander, another figure from history? I can imagine him carefully applying each brushstroke to the mountains, one by one, building them up from the bottom. Look at the crisp clear colours, like a scene in a children’s book or a tapestry! And then there is the carriage itself, so grand and ornate, carrying the body of the great leader to its final resting place. Bauchant, like many painters, had an interest in history and mythology. He wasn’t formally trained, and worked as a farmer until he was mobilized in World War One at the age of 41. Maybe his time in the army gave him a sense of the sweep of human history. He’s part of a lineage of folk or ‘naïve’ painters who took a fresh, uninhibited approach to picture-making, like Grandma Moses in the USA or Henri Rousseau in France.