Height overall: 37cm (14.5in)
Patinated bronze standing figure of Emperor Napoléon I (1769-1821). The Emperor modelled standing full-length, arms folded, right leg forward, in the uniform of the Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde Impériale and wearing the breast badge and star of the Legion d’Honneur and the breast badge of the Couronne de Fer. Raised on a bronze mounted column of Sienna applied with marble with a bronze plaque in the form of a classical sarcophagus and inscribed with the epitaph ‘Il sut vivre en heros et mourir en grand homme’ (He lived as a hero and died a great man).
It was a ‘statue’ of this form that Napoleon offered to his physician Dr O’Meara on his departure from St. Helena. It became widely known through its appearance as the frontispiece of the second edition of O'Meara's 'Napoleon in exile, or, A voice from St. Helena' (London: Simpkin & Marshall, 1822). The model later became widely known through bronze editions cast by Emile Coriolan Hippolyte Guillemin (1841-1907) during the Second Empire (1852-1870).