From monumental battle paintings to the public display of archaeological spoils, visual culture promoted modern French imperialism. So argues Todd Porterfield in this provocative look at the forces of art and politics in France's military conquest of the Near East.

In challenging the conventional wisdom that France happened into imperial venture, Porterfield explores interactions among artists, generals, journalists, curators, and politicians from the time of Napoleon's conquest of Egypt to the Algerian intervention during the Restoration and July Monarchy. Together they forged an official culture that provided a rationale for imperialism - based on images of France's moral and technological superiority - and an enduring project for Frenchmen of all political persuasions during an era of domestic instability.

The allure of empire derived in part from its function as an alternative, surrogate, mask, and displacement of the Revolution.