Emperor Napoleon in His Study at The Tuileries

Introduction

The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries" is an 1812 painting by Jacques-Louis David. It shows French Emperor Napoleon I in uniform in his study at the Tuileries Palace. Despite the detail, it is unlikely that Napoleon posed for the portrait. It was a private commission from the Scottish nobleman and admirer of Napoleon Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton in 1811 and completed in 1812. Originally shown at Hamilton Palace, it was sold to Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery in 1882, from whom it was bought by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1954, which deposited it in Washington DC's National Gallery of Art, where it now hangs.

Analysis

On 3 August, 1811, the wealthy Scot, Alexander, Marquis of Douglas - who was to become the tenth Duke of Hamilton in 1819 - wrote to David commissioning from him a portrait of Napoleon. "… You have graciously chosen my brush through which to transfer onto canvas the features of the Great Man and to show him at one of the events which have brought him immortality", the artist replied on 20 September (presumably quoting Hamilton's letter of commission). David agreed to paint a standing portrait for a sum which varied between 20 and 24,000 F but which was finally 1,000 guineas (= 18,650 F). The work was completed towards the end of March 1812 and it attracted to the painter's atelier (to quote David himself - Letter to Hamilton, dated 8 May, 1812) "huge numbers of people because of the exceedingly close resemblance to that immortal man… no one to this day has painted such an accurate portrait, not only in the physical features of his face, but also in that air of benevolence, composure and penetration which never leaves ...