Late 19th Century French Bronze Figure of Napoleon

The present model is based on the bronze statue of Napoleon in the courtyard of Les Invalides. Regarded as one of the more human images of Napoleon, it was created by the Parisian monumental sculptor by Charles-Emile Seurre (1798-1858) for the top of the Vendome Column in 1831-33 during July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe (1830-48) as a public contribution to the revival of Napoleonic legend. Hitherto the bronze clad Vendome Column, made from canon captured at Austerlitz, and modelled on Trajan’s column in Rome, had been surmounted successively a statue of Napoleon (removed following Napoleon’s exile in 1814); a statue of Henri IV (removed during Napoleon’s return from exile in 1815); and a giant fleur-de-lys (at the restoration of the monarchy after Waterloo). Charles-Emile’s statue was removed in turn from the Vendome Column by the Communards led by the artist Gustave Courbet flowing the flight into exile of Napoleon III in 1871 before being thrown into the Seine. It was finally installed in the courtyard of Les Invalides in 1911.