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Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres · Rococo & Neoclassicism
- Artist
- Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867)
- Date
- 1806
- Dimensions
- 259 x 162 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Musée de l'Armée, Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, France
This portrait shows Napoleon in his coronation robes, seated frontally on a round-backed golden throne, holding the sceptre of Charlemagne and the hand of justice. It was painted two years after he crowned himself Emperor of the French.
A closer look
The young Ingres presented Napoleon not as a man but as an icon: rigidly frontal, motionless, almost buried under ermine, gold embroidery and purple velvet, his pale face framed by a laurel wreath. The composition deliberately recalls medieval images of God enthroned and the Ghent Altarpiece, as well as ancient statues of Jupiter. An imperial eagle is woven into the carpet at his feet. When exhibited at the Salon of 1806, critics found it strange and 'Gothic', and Ingres was deeply hurt.
More by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
In this gallery
Famous works elsewhere
- The Source 1856
- The Turkish Bath 1862
- Vénus Anadyomène 1808
- Portrait of Monsieur Bertin 1832
- Oedipus and the Sphinx 1808
- Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière 1806