''Portrait of Napoleon III'', or initially called in French ''Portrait de S. M. l'Empereur'' (''Portrait of His Majesty the Emperor'') is an

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

of 1861 by the French painter

Hippolyte Flandrin Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin (23 March 1809 – 21 March 1864) was a French Neoclassical painter. His most celebrated work, ''Study (Flandrin), Jeune Homme Nu Assis au Bord de la Mer'' ("Young Male Nude Seated beside the Sea"), from 1836, is held in ...

, depicting France's Emperor

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

standing in his Grand Cabinet. It is held at the Musée de l'Histoire de France, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. At its first presentation in the Universal Exhibition in 1862, the painting attracted praise for its true-to-life representation of Napoleon III. In 1853, the newly-appointed Emperor of the French

commissioned

Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin (23 March 1809 – 21 March 1864) was a French Neoclassical painter. His most celebrated work, '' Jeune Homme Nu Assis au Bord de la Mer'' ("Young Male Nude Seated beside the Sea"), from 1836, is held in the Louvre. Bio ...

, a pupil of

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( , ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

and specialized painter of religious figures, to work on a standing

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

of him. The Emperor, displeased by Flandrin's depiction of him, cancelled the commission, and preferred

Franz Xaver Winterhalter Franz Xaver Winterhalter (20 April 1805 – 8 July 1873) was a German painter and lithographer, known for his flattering portraits of royalty and upper-class society in the mid-19th century. His name has become associated with fashionable court ...

's painting of him in his coronation robes, with its more glorified and distinguished idealization. Reinstated in 1861, Flandrin recommenced work on his portrait, incentivized by a retrospective commission of 20,000 francs. According to Karine Huguenaud, Flandrin's portrait is a "penetrating psychological study of the emperor", extraordinarily capturing Napoleon III's "distant and inscrutable look". Standing in his Général de Division uniform, Napoleon III is depicted in the Grand Cabinet at the

Tuileries Palace The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...

amidst pointed attributes: a marble bust of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, crowned with laurel, over his right shoulder and a Napoleonic eagle in the background. On his desk are French maps and a copy of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

's ''

Commentarii de Bello Gallico ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; en, Commentaries on the Gallic War, italic=yes), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' ( en, Gallic War, italic=yes), is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Ca ...

''. "This", exulted writer

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rem ...

, "is without doubt the first 'real' portrait which we have of Your Majesty", referring to the realistic approach in Flandrin's work. The ''Portrait of Napoleon III'' was first shown at the 1862 Universal Exhibition in London, on donation from the Emperor. Flandrin's painting was a standout wherever it was exhibited: the Universal Exhibition,

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

(1863), at the Paris Ecole des Beaux-Arts (1864), and the

Paris Exposition universelle The Exposition Universelle of 1889 () was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 5 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fourth of eight expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more than thirty-two million visitors. The ...

(1867). The critics were positive: the sincerity of the subject exercised both intimacy and fascination, winning favor over Winhalter's coronation portrait. By 1884, Flandrin's painting was returned to the French government and displayed in the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Portrait of Napoleon III 1861 paintings Cultural depictions of Napoleon III Paintings by Hippolyte Flandrin Paintings in Île-de-France Portraits by French artists Portraits of men Portraits of monarchs Paintings in the collection of the Palace of Versailles