Emile-Jean-Horace Vernet, The Emperor Napoleon I

This is one of three portraits of the Emperor Napoleon painted by Vernet in 1815–16 for Charles Kinnaird, 8th Lord Kinnaird of Inchture, an art collector who had been a Member of Parliament and an elected representative peer for Scotland.

Napoleon declared himself Emperor of the French in 1804 and reigned until 1814 and again, briefly, in 1815. In 1814 Vernet had received the Légion d‘Honneur from Napoleon for his role in the defence of Paris, and he remained a fervent and lifelong admirer of the Emperor. During the Restoration, which followed Napoleon’s abdication and exile to St Helena, Vernet’s studio became a meeting place for fellow admirers of the former Emperor. When the duc d’Orléans commissioned four battle scenes from Vernet in 1819, it was Vernet himself who suggested the group include the battles of Hannau and Montmirail, two of Napoleon’s final military victories.

This portrait may be based on a sketch made from life by the artist in 1812. Napoleon is wearing the cross and plaque of the Légion d’Honneur and the cross of the Order of the Iron Crown – both orders he had founded. Although this is a formal portrait that presents Napoleon in his uniform and medals, Vernet offers a sympathetic image of the Emperor, which emphasises the man rather than imperial glory.