Napoleon I. Bonaparte (Ajaccio/Corsica, 1769 - Island of St Helen, 1821)


Rock alum Antonio Canova probably 1802 height 51 cm, base height 14.5 cm The bust of a man dressed in a double-breasted coat with high lapels and a shirt with high neck and a tie. His hair falls in locks to the chin and face. Napoleon Bonaparte had early on in his military career become the commander of the French revolutionary army.; in 1799 he became the first consul, and in 1804 proclaimed himself emperor. Victorious over many European coalitions, he had expanded French rule over a large part of Europe. He was finally defeated in battles of 1814 and 1815. Antonio Canova (Possagno, 1757 - Venice, 1822) is the most important Italian Neo-classicist sculptor of the second half of the 18th century. The Colleciton also holds Canova's portrait of Josip Vrkljan, made around 1822. The bust belonged to the estate of Pricess Mathilde, the daughter of Napoleon's brother Jerome, and was bought at an auction as a wedding gift of Count Oskar Bopp von Oberstadt to his wife Elisabeth. It was bought for the Museum in 1968 from the estate of their daughter Jutte Zagoda. M. Schneider, Portreti 1800-1870., Zagreb, 1973, page. 52, catalogue number 18; Hrvatske zemlje i francuska revolucija, (exhibition catalogue), Povijesni muzej Hrvatske, Zagreb, 1989, pages 124 and 129, catalogue number 112.




HPM/PMH-006210