<p>I don't consider it "funny". More interesting or "cool".</p>

<p>According to Dave Pollot's website, the title of the painting is <a href="https://www.davepollot.com/product/leveledup-prints-new/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Leveled Up</a>. It features Link, from The Legend of Zelda, riding a horse with Navi over a reproduction of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Crossing_the_Alps" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Napoleon Crossing the Alps</a>.</p>

<p>Notably, Napolean refused to sit for the original set of paintings:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Sit? For what good? Do you think that the great men of Antiquity for whom we have images sat? ... It isn't the exactness of the features, a wart on the nose which gives the resemblance. It is the character that dictates what must be painted... Nobody knows if the portraits of the great men resemble them, it is enough that their genius lives there.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The Link version effectively captures the spirit of the originals, since Napolean's posture of victory is one modern viewers would associate with having just leveled up. If Jacques-Louis David had been a truly daring man, he might have painted something similar while attempting to convince Napolean to sit for him.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-16T05:05:23.590Z
2019-08-27T05:06:30.220Z
2019-08-27T05:06:30.220Z
xiota
<p>There is an artist in Buffalo named <a href="http://www.davepollot.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Dave Pollot</a> who takes famous paintings or works of art and inserts characters or cartoons in them to make them funny. I got this one for my husband:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/97bIJ.jpg" alt="Leveled Up"></p>

<p>I don't know a lot about art or video games, but I do know this is Link from the Ocarina of Time, a game my husband likes. I'm thinking of getting him a framed print of this because I think he'd like it. But I don't know enough to know why this is funny or ironic like the artist's other works. Can someone help me out?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-16T04:19:31.190Z
I'm not sure what the relationship between Link and Napoleon is (except maybe that they are both short) but this is a reworking of a painting known as [Napoleon Crossing the Alps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Crossing_the_Alps)
Henry Taylor
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-16T18:45:14.587Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this site is for applied art, not art interpretation.
Catija
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-16T19:29:05.223Z
Is there an SE site for art interpretation?
xiota
<painting>
Why is this painting with Link from Ocarina of Time funny or ironic?
TheSmallestOne
# Why is this painting with Link from Ocarina of Time funny or ironic?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-15)

There is an artist in Buffalo named [Dave Pollot](http://www.davepollot.com) who takes famous paintings or works of art and inserts characters or cartoons in them to make them funny. I got this one for my husband:

![Leveled Up](https://i.sstatic.net/97bIJ.jpg)

I don't know a lot about art or video games, but I do know this is Link from the Ocarina of Time, a game my husband likes. I'm thinking of getting him a framed print of this because I think he'd like it. But I don't know enough to know why this is funny or ironic like the artist's other works. Can someone help me out?

**Tags:** painting

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I'm not sure what the relationship between Link and Napoleon is (except maybe that they are both short) but this is a reworking of a painting known as [Napoleon Crossing the Alps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Crossing_the_Alps)  
> **username_2**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this site is for applied art, not art interpretation.  
> **username_3**: Is there an SE site for art interpretation?  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-06-16. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

I don't consider it "funny". More interesting or "cool".

According to Dave Pollot's website, the title of the painting is [Leveled Up](https://www.davepollot.com/product/leveledup-prints-new/). It features Link, from The Legend of Zelda, riding a horse with Navi over a reproduction of [Napoleon Crossing the Alps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Crossing_the_Alps).

Notably, Napolean refused to sit for the original set of paintings:

> Sit? For what good? Do you think that the great men of Antiquity for whom we have images sat? ... It isn't the exactness of the features, a wart on the nose which gives the resemblance. It is the character that dictates what must be painted... Nobody knows if the portraits of the great men resemble them, it is enough that their genius lives there.

The Link version effectively captures the spirit of the originals, since Napolean's posture of victory is one modern viewers would associate with having just leveled up. If Jacques-Louis David had been a truly daring man, he might have painted something similar while attempting to convince Napolean to sit for him.


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