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This portrait of Napoleon and his wife, Marie-Louise, are represented here by the two leading court artists Augustin and Isabey. Likely commissioned shortly after their marriage in 1810, it is extraordinary that this pair have survived together.

On 18 Brumaire 1799, Napoleon staged a coup d'état and established himself as First Consul - in effect, the most powerful man in France. Five years later, he had himself crowned Emperor by Pope Pius VII in a spectacular ceremony at Notre-Dame. Over the course of the following decade, he came to dominate continental Europe through a series of incredible military victories. His dynastic ambitions also showed signs of realisation - his siblings were installed as the rulers of Spain, Holland, Tuscany, Naples and Westphalia whilst his friend and marshal, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, became King of Sweden. At home the emperor instituted extensive reforms, overseeing the centralisation of government, the creation of the Bank of France, the establishment of the Code Napoléon and the reinstatement of Roman Catholicism as the state religion.

Despite Napoleon’s personal achievements, his longing for an heir remained unfulfilled. In spite of the love he still felt for Josephine, at forty-six years of age she appeared unable to conceive and he felt compelled to divorce her, taking as his new wife the daughter of his old foe, the Austrian Emperor Francis II, Marie-Louise. The union was witnessed by the French Ambassador to the Duke de Cadore; ‘The marriage of H.M. the Emperor with the Archduchess Marie Louise has been celebrated with unsurpassable magnificence, to which the preceding fêtes bore no comparison. The truly prodigious quantity of diamonds and pearls, the richness of the costumes and uniforms, the innumerable quantity of lustres which illuminated all parts of the Castle, and the joy of those present imparted to the fête a brilliancy worthy of the great and majestic solemnity’[1]. One year later, Marie-Louise fulfilled her role by giving birth to a son who was styled as the King of Rome.

This portrait of Marie-Louise by Isabey is a reduced version of his 1810 full-length portrait, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. The lavish jewels worn here by the empress were designed and made by the emperor’s favourite jewellers, Etienne Nitot (1750-1809) and his son François-Regnault Nitot (1779-1853), incorporating the portrait of Napoleon himself in cameo set with diamonds. The parure of rubies and diamonds comprised a diadem, a crown, a necklace, a comb, a pair of earrings, a pair of bracelets, and a girdle. The bracelets were set with 24 rubies, 451 "brilliants" (diamonds), and 60 Dutch rose-cut diamonds. Placed at the Empress's disposal, this parure was immediately recorded in the inventory of Crown diamonds. Marie-Louise had little time to enjoy this sumptuous ensemble, as the Empire fell in 1814. When he took the throne, Louis XVIII (1755-1824) had the imperial jewels unmounted to adapt them to current fashion. In 1816 Pierre-Nicolas Menière reset the rubies and diamonds of Marie-Louise for the Duchess of Angoulême (1775-1851).

This pair of portraits was probably commissioned by a Napoleon to bestow as a gift to a member of the court to commemorate his marriage to Marie-Louise 1810. Both Isabey and Augustin were taught by the painter Jean-Baptiste Charles Claudot (1733–1805). Interestingly, this miniature by Augustin is characteristic of a type established by Isabey – a portrait of Augustin by Isabey dated circa 1790 (now in the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art) shows the close relationship between the two men. Napoleon first commissioned the portrait of himself in the uniform of the in 1805 and versions were then produced by Isabey and his studio (for example, a similar version, dated 1812, is in the Wallace Collection, London)[2]. Two further examples by Isabey, both of which are signed and one of which is dated 1813, are in the Musée du Louvre.[3]Two versions of this type by Augustin are also represented in the Wallace Collection (M8 and M9).

[1] Imbert de Saint-Amand, The Memoirs of the Empress Marie Louise, London 1886, p. 145 f.

[2] G. Reynolds, Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Miniatures, London, 1980, no. 185, ill. (Nos. 182 and 186 in the Wallace Collection are other versions assigned to Isabey himself.)

[3] P. Jean-Richard, Miniatures sur ivoire, Paris, 1994, nos. 375, 376, ill.