cahn | Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 45

Unfortunately, there was then at Berlin a King who pursued one policy only, who deceived his enemies, but not his servants, and who lied without scruple, but never without necessity.

(from The King's Secret - by Duke de Broglie, grand-nephew of the subject of the book, Comte de Broglie, and grandfather of the physicist) )

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From:

luzula

In the fic, it was a gift from the Prince Regent, so he couldn't get rid of it. IRL, I have no idea if that's true...

From:

selenak

This is what Wiki has to say:

Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker is a colossal heroic nude statue by the Italian artist Antonio Canova, of Napoleon I of France in the guise of the Roman god Mars. He holds a gilded Nike or Victory standing on an orb in his right hand and a staff in his left. It was produced between 1802 and 1806 and stands 3.45 metres to the raised left hand. Once on display in the Louvre in Paris, it was purchased from Louis XVIII in 1816 by the British government, which granted it to the Duke of Wellington. It is now on display in Robert Adam's stairwell at the Duke's London residence, Apsley House.

History:

At Napoleon's personal and insistent demand, Canova went to Paris in 1802 to model a bust of him. In 1803, after his return to Rome, he began work on the full-length sculpture; it was completed in 1806. Its idealised nude physique draws on the iconography of Augustus, and it was always intended for an interior entrance-hall setting rather than as a freestanding piazza sculpture, though some accounts give the centre of the courtyard of the Palazzo del Senato as the original intended site for the sculpture, following plans drawn up by the architect Luigi Canonica. France's ambassador in Rome François Cacault and the director of French museums Vivant Denon both saw the sculpture while it was a work in progress: Cacault wrote in 1803 that it "must become the most perfect work of this century", whilst Denon wrote back to Napoleon in 1806 that it belonged indoors in the Musée Napoléon "among the emperors and in the niche where the Laocoon is, in such a manner that it would be the first object that one sees on entering". In late 1810 the sculpture was transported to France, reaching Paris on 1 January 1811 100 When Napoleon saw it there in April 1811 he refused to accept it, calling it "too athletic" and banning the public from seeing it.

By 1814 the sculpture was in the Salle des Hommes Illustres, hidden behind a canvas screen, where it was probably first seen by Wellington. In the era after the battle of Waterloo, Canova, who was still regarded as the best living artist, with his works in great demand from English patrons in particular, supported the return of looted sculptures from the Musée Napoléon to their original collections. The Musée Napoléon reverted to being the Louvre and its looted sculptures such as the Apollo Belvedere were returned to their original collections. The removal of the Napoleon was also mooted, and Canova offered to re-purchase it. It was sold to the British government in 1816 instead for 66,000 francs (then under £3,000), which the Louvre spent on re-installing its Salle des Antiques. Works by Canova were already being collected by the Duke, and the Prince Regent presented it to him later that year. It was moved to the stairwell in Apsley House in 1817, where the floor under the statue was specially strengthened in order to accommodate the additional weight. It is still on display there.

Meanwhile, this website offers a slightly different version:

The Duke of Wellington’s collection of art works is of exceptional wealth and quality. Because of his military rank and prestige, he received many official gifts, in particular a number of paintings from the Royal Spanish collection including four works by Velazquez. It is also composed of many paintings from the Italian school, of Dutch and Flemish paintings from the 17th century and of an equestrian work by Goya.
This collection contains a great many works of art linked with Napoleon, such as the famous almost-nude statue by the celebrated sculptor Canova, representing the Emperor as Mars. The sculpture, which was completed in 1806, was commissioned by Napoleon in 1801 and arrived in Paris on 6 February, 1811. Inspired by the heroic nudes of antiquity, it caused considerable embarrassment to the Emperor who could not see any likeness between himself and the marble athlete. Put away in a corner of the Louvre, King Louis-Philippe sold it to the British government for 60,000 francs. It was then given to Wellington.

A few paintings depict the Emperor and his family: Emperor Napoleon, Empress Josephine, Joseph, King of Spain and Pauline, Borghese princess by Robert Lefèvre, Napoleon Bonaparte and Joseph, King of Spain by Gérard, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul by Dabos. Among the china is a beautiful Sèvres china set decorated in an Egyptian style which dates back to 1810-1812. It was commissioned by Napoleon for Josephine and given to Wellington in 1818 by Louis XVIII. There are also embroidered flags of the French departments which were paraded in front of Napoleon at the Champ de Mai ceremony on the Champ de Mars in June 1815. They were subsequently given to Wellington by Louis XVIII.

Both seem to agree on Napoleon thinking it didn't look anthing like him and being embarassed, and the Bourbons selling it to the British government who gave it to Wellington, who was into collecting Napoleon trophies. To each their own kink, Wellington.

From:

luzula

To each their own kink, Wellington.
Heh.

But yeah, that at least shows some humility/connection to reality on Napoleon's part. Or maybe it says something about the development of art styles, and the expectation of paintings/sculptures to actually look like their subjects, and not abstractly glorify them?

From:

selenak

Yes and no, I mean, earlier portraits were supposed to have some resemblance and glorify/prettify their subjects, too, and Napoleon wasn't immune to being put on a dashing horse in Alpine scenery by David, which presumably is also a scene that didn't happen thusly, but with David you can rely on some actual resemblance, with added horsemanship but minus super athletic looks. (His Napoleon portraits are pretty consistent and highly recognizable, forming our idea of what Napoleon looked like to this day. (The death mask shows very similar features, admittedly.) But I think what counted as a tolerable resemblance started to change with the 19th century, not least because the wigs went completely away. (It's much harder to differentiate people when they're wearing wigs.)

I mean: contemporary to Napoleon, there's Goya's famously unflattering portrait of the Spanish Bourbons, and he was the court painter. Nor was the unflattering realism a once off. Some months ago I linked a traditional portrait of the Queen which was pointed shortly after her wedding (very Rokoko like depiction of pretty girl) to a portrait of hers by Goya, and the difference is shocking. Given Goya was paid repeatedly for the realistic stuff, as opposed to fired, clearly what at least some royals wanted of their portrait had changed.

Reminder, Goya's portrait of the Spanish Royals:

close-up of the woman paying for this, the Queen (the King was an amiable nonetity, the Queen was the younger sister of Joseph II's wife Isabella of Parma)