MELBOURNE.- The National Gallery of Victoria today welcomed its 100,000th visitor to this year’s Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition, Napoleon: Revolution to Empire.
The exhibition has been popular with crowds from all over Victoria and Australia since it opened in June and today, Diana Bradley of Melbourne became the 100,000th visitor.
To mark this milestone Ms Bradley was awarded an NGV prize pack including a Gallery membership, Peter Rowlands Catering gift voucher and the Napoleon: Revolution to Empire catalogue.
NGV Director, Tony Ellwood, said celebrating the 100,000th visitor to Napoleon was one of the highlights during his first week as Director.
“Napoleon: Revolution to Empire is a compelling exhibition. We are delighted to be welcoming the 100,000th visitor to the exhibition and over the coming months we look forward to seeing many more people through the doors, especially during our 24 hour opening on the final weekend. ”
Premier and Minister for the Arts Ted Baillieu, said: “Winter in Melbourne offers up an arts and cultural feast, with an enviable array of exhibitions and events to enjoy. Napoleon: Revolution to Empire is an unmissable highlight, as 100,000 visitors attest. We look forward to welcoming many more to this Melbourne-exclusive exhibition before it closes in October.”
This panoramic exhibition features nearly 300 priceless works, examining French art, culture and life from the 1770s to the 1820s and includes objects of breathtaking opulence and luxury – from paintings, drawings, engravings, sculpture, furniture, militaria, textiles, porcelain, gold and silver, fashion and jewellery.
Napoleon: Revolution to Empire explores, amongst other themes, the stormy period of social change forced upon France through the outbreak of the French Revolution, the execution of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, and the rise to power of the young Napoleon Bonaparte and his new wife Josephine, as the couple worked to cement their place as France’s new political and social leaders.
Exclusive to Melbourne, Napoleon: Revolution to Empire will only be shown at the National Gallery of Victoria this winter. Open daily from 10am–5pm from 2 June to 7 October 2012 and until 9pm every Wednesday for art after dark.
