“Napoléon Wearing the Coronation Regalia of the King of Italy”

Jean-Baptiste IsabeyProvenance - December 1852

Six months after the coronation in Paris, the Emperor was crowned “King of Italy” in Milan. Isabey executed this drawing in December 1852, at the time of Napoléon III’s coup d’etat. Napoléon III was the son of Joséphine’s daughter, Queen Hortense of Holland, and of Napoléon’s brother, Louis, the King of Holland. This birth of the “Second Empire” in France provided inspiration for the artist’s sentimental souvenir (remembrance) of the First Empire.

Historical Provenance - Prince Napoléon Murat collection

Graphite on paper

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