A white marble bust of Napoleon Bonaparte

An extremely fine white marble bust of Napoleon Bonaparte wearing his distinctive bicorne hat with cockade, his cloak over his military uniform and looking slightly downward, the head and shoulder statue raised on a circular stepped base
Paris, date circa 1810-20
Height 60 cm.
This superb white marble bust of Napoleon Bonaparte, portrays him as a young military leader, probably soon after he was crowned Napoleon I Emperor of France in late 1804. Possibly the most famous and powerful self-made man in history, he was born on 15th August 1759 at Ajaccio, the son of a noble Corsican with little fortune but a large family to provide for. Despite his unpromising beginnings, Napoleon was to become the world’s most powerful leader through a combination of talent, determination, energy and good fortune. Having attended military school at Brienne and then the military school in Paris he rose through the ranks to become a Brigadier-General and soon after in 1794, inspector of artillery in the Army of the Alps. When in 1795 a royalist revolt in Paris threatened to overthrow the government, it fell to Napoleon to save the Republic. Although his men were massively outnumbered, Napoleon and the Republicans emerged the victors. As such his exploits won him ever greater standing among the politicians running the new regime known as the Directory. Immediately after his marriage in 1796 to the beautiful Joséphine, widow of Alexandre de Beauharnais (who died at the guillotine during the Reign of Terror) he left home to take up his new post as Commander in Chief of the Army of Italy. In this he proved remarkably successful, transforming an inefficient army into a powerful fighting force.