Inspired by Antoine-Denis Chaudet, (Paris 1763 -1810 Paris) Italian, 19th century

This bust of Napoleon I (1769-1821) is inspired by a model by the French Neoclassical sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet. The original plaster model for the portrait was made in 1799 and the final marble version of 1804 was Napoleon's preferred image of himself, and it became the official portrait that was extensively reproduced in biscuit porcelain made from 1805 at the Sèvres porcelain factory.

Italy was under Napoleonic rule at this time and Napoleon had presented his sister, Elisa Baciocchi, with the principality of Lucca and Massa-Carrara, an area which included the Carrara marble quarries. Elisa ordered the Carrara workshops to carve multiple copies of Chaudet's bust and at least 1,200 marble versions of this portrait were carved between 1807 and 1809. One of these official portraits, originally made for public buildings in France, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The majority were destroyed when the Bourbon monarchy was restored in 1814.

RELATED LITERATURE

G. Hubert, La sculpture dans l'Italie Napoleonienne, Paris 1964, pp. 342-9