Napoleon's Tomb
Artist: Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (French, 1789-1863)
Date: 1821
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: The Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom
Description
Napoleon’s grave was by a narrow stream, but Vernet places it dramatically on a promontory by the sea, with the wreckage of a ship inscribed with the names of the Emperor’s most important battles. General Charles-Tristan Montholon (1783-1853) and General Henri-Gatien Bertrand (1773-1844) with his family, who were present on St. Helena, console one another, while the cloud-borne mourners in the right background include some of Napoleon’s dead Marshals. This picture is a version with minor variations of a painting (now untraced) which Vernet produced immediately after learning in July 1821 of Napoleon’s death on the island of St Helena two months earlier (on 5 May). The Wallace Collection’s painting was completed by October of the same year.