IN PICTURES

Artist: APPIANI Andrea (1754-1817)

Date: c. 1805

Technique: oil on canvas

Dimensions : H. 0.985 m; W. 0.745 m

Place:musée national napoléonien de l'île d'Aix

Subjects: Decorations, Italy (Kingdom of), Napoleon (King of Italy)

Key words: portrait, crown, laurels, eagles, Légion d'honneur, necklace, plaque, ribbon

Credits: RMN

Notes:

This portrait shows Napoleon in the "petit habillement" worn during his coronation in Milan in 1805.
The clothes are exhibited in the Museo Stibbert
in Florence. Napoleon bears the laurel crown of the emperor of the French, a piece by Biennais of which all that remains is a single leaf held in Fontainebleau. His hand rests on the crown of the king of Italy, bought from the Parisian jeweller Marguerite (Milan, Museo del Risorgimento) and he is wearing the necklace, plaque and ribbon of the Légion d'honneur. Missing in the picture are the Iron Crown of the Lombard kings (Monza, basilica) and the insignia of the Iron order, cast after the coronation.

About twenty replicas of this work were painted by Appiani and his pupils. Other variations on this painting are held in the Schatzkammer in Vienna, in Lord Rosebery's collection in Dalmeny House and at the Museo del Risorgimento in Milan.