Antoine-Jean Gros was born in Paris,France.He became a pupil of J.-L. David in 1785,and entering the Académie in 1787. In 1793 he went to Italy, and he witnessed the battle of Arcole in 1796. In 1796-9 he lived in Milan where he first met Napoleon.He painted portraits and romantic literary subjects, but his reputation was made by his close association with Napoleon, whose deeds he celebrated in such large canvases as the Pestiférés de Jaffa and the Bataille des Pyramides . He exhibited his paintings at the Salon 1798-1835 and was made chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1808 and officier in 1829. He was elected to the Institut in 1815 and succeeded David as professeur at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1816. He was made baron by Charles X in 1824. During his later years his davidien ideas were increasingly criticised and his unhappiness led him to take his own life, by drowning in the Seine, on 26 June 1835.