Napoleon I
(18th and 19th Centuries )
Isabey initially worked for Queen Marie Antoinette, but after the fall of the monarchy, he became the court painter to Napoleon I. In this miniature, he portrays a young Napoleon wearing the uniform of an officer in the Foot Grenadiers. The gold frame, which predates the miniature, was made in 1808 and is decorated with imperial symbols, including bees (a reference to ornaments in the form of cicadas, mistakenly identified as bees, that had been found in the tombs of Merovingian rulers) and the eagle associated with Charlemagne.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1906, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
1999-2000 | Vive la France! French Treasures from the Middle Ages to Monet. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
1998 | Mything Persons: Historic Figures in Legends of East and West. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
1979 | A Baltimorean in Paris: George A. Lucas, 1860-1909. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Geographies
France (Place of Origin)
Measurements
1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1906
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
38.59