Much of the contemporary literature on Antoine-Jean Gros derives from the works of his first two biographers, Jean-Baptiste Delestre, a student of Gros's during the Restoration, and Jean Tripier Le Franc, a friend of Gros's later years and an early founder of the Society for the History of French Art. These authors characterized Gros as sharing the moderate Royalist socio-political outlook of his parents and their celebrated neighbors, Madame Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun and Jean-Baptiste Lebrun.
Yet in examining Gros's early career in detail it is quite possible to reach different conclusions from those of his biographers. The artist's correspondence, when read in full and not in the excerpts presented by his biographers, reveals one who possessed a decidedly positive attitude towards the Revolution (Philippe Bordes also reached similar conclusions regarding Gros's correspondence). It is not just the content of Gros's letters of the 1790's that indicate his republican outlook but also his choice of the radical Jacques-Louis David as an instructor, his early commitment to Neo-classicism when it was closely associated with reform, his acceptance of republican-inspired commissions, and his close friendships with others dedicated to revolutionary principles.
Showing Gros to be a republican paves the way for the major contention of this dissertation, that Gros's Napoleonic history paintings, rather than being unequivocal tributes to the French Emperor, are rather works that are allegorical/dialectical in nature and offer covert criticisms of Napoleon's imperial ambitions and foreign wars. Separate chapters are devoted to Gros's paintings of The Battle of Nazareth, Napoleon at the Pest House at Jaffa, The Battle of Aboukir, and Napoleon on the Battlefield at Eylau, analyzing each from this standpoint.
Another misconception regarding Gros, also stemming from the same sources, was that throughout his career he was a slavish follower of David's Neo-classical style, even though his own natural inclinations were best served by a more romantic style. This account is, however, accurate only after 1816. Though Delestre was correct in his characterization of Gros during the Restoration era, he was mistaken in projecting this image of the artist backward into the Revolutionary period and the Napoleonic Empire, thus confusing the way that Gros's earlier work has been interpreted.