Because Thorvaldsen had never made a portrait of Napoleon during his lifetime, he took his inspiration from the funerary mask, of which he owned a copy in plaster. This mask was moulded in St Helena by Antonmarchi, the Emperor's doctor, two days after the Emperor's demise, and was very widely circulated. The sculptor mingled features of the mask with other references, in particular the canonical image of Napoleon's face provided by Chaudet's 1804 bust, marble versions of which were produced in large numbers by the workshops in Carrara during the Empire (production topped over 1,000 copies); copies were also produced in biscuit-ware by the Sèvres Porcelain Factory, and in bronze. The Danish sculptor chose a grandiose setting for his bust, one that recalls the apotheoses of classical antiquity. On the right shoulder of his hero he has placed the aegis (the shield of the gods, in particular of Jupiter and, above all, Minerva), adorned with the head of Medusa entwined with snakes; here his inspiration came from Roman models such as the cameo portrait of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, now in the British Museum, London. Napoleon is perched on the terrestrial globe, an indication of the universal scope of his power. The ensemble is supported at the front by an eagle with spread wings, the insignia of imperial glory, and, on the reverse, by a palm tree with spreading branches; the palm frond was as an accessory to the victorious hero.
source: Citizens and Kings - portraits in the age of revolution 1760-1830
