Painting of Napoleon |The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries |

In 1812, Jacques-Louis David painted a portrait of Emperor Napoleon in his study at the Tuileries. Alexander Hamilton, the 10th Duke of Hamilton, commissioned David in 1811 to portray Napoleon in his study at the Tuileries. Completed the following year, the painting shows Napoleon standing at approximately three-quarters of his true size. He turns his head slightly to look at the viewer and places his right hand inside his uniform jacket. The white-faced, blue coat with red upturned cuffs and gold epaulets identifies him as a colonel of the Foot Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, an elite group of soldiers personally commanded by Napoleon. Two medals pinned to Napoleon's left chest signify the extent of his reign. The first medal is the Order of the Iron Crown, an organization Napoleon established as King of Italy in 1805. The second medal is the French Legion of Honor. Napoleon’s uniform is completed with white breeches and stockings and black shoes with gold buckles. Although wearing a military uniform, this is not a particularly military portrait. Napoleon has laid his officer’s sword on the red velvet chair to his right and is depicted performing administrative tasks of a civilian leader. On the writing desk, there is an ink-stained quill, a lamp burning with a candle, and various papers. On the right side of the desk, a rolled-up paper with the letters COD can be seen, referencing the Napoleonic Code, established in 1804. Bees, resembling inverted fleur-de-lis, were symbols of the French monarchy and can be seen on the velvet covering the chair. David signed and dated the portrait on a rolled-up map next to the desk, where a leather-bound volume of Plutarch is also visible. Plutarch, an ancient Roman biographer and historian, was renowned in the nineteenth century for his works examining the virtues and vices of Greek and Roman rulers such as Alexander the Great, Themistocles, and Julius Caesar. Although Napoleon stands looking at the viewer, he appears more disheveled than ever. His hair, typical of a man in his fifties, is gray and looks untidy and unkempt. His uniform also appears less than immaculate. One cufflink is undone, and his silk stockings and breeches look wrinkled from being worn through an exceptionally long working day. This notion of time is highlighted by two details. The grandfather clock shows the time as 4:12. And the candles on the desk lamp clearly indicate that it is early morning, not afternoon. The urgency is evident. This portrait suggests that Napoleon was working late and hard at the time he was depicted and that, in fact, Napoleon’s time as a world ruler was nearing a climactic end. The year 1812, when the painting was completed, was especially disastrous for Napoleon amid the catastrophic invasion of Russia. Less than two years later, on April 4, 1814, Napoleon abdicated and was exiled to the island of Elba. The painter skillfully and subtly depicts Napoleon's transition from an omnipotent ruler to a fallible commander. In this context, David's portrait can be seen as a contemporary painted version of The Weary Hercules, a statue by Greek sculptor Glykon, which David likely saw as a small bronze copy in the Louvre. Like the mighty Hercules, Napoleon was once a very powerful leader. However, just as Hercules’ downfall was at the hands of his jealous wife Deianara, Napoleon began his decline at the hands of the Duke of Wellington. The failed return to power in 1815 led to Napoleon's permanent exile to the island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. Therefore, the portrait by David constitutes one of the last official portraits of the great French ruler.