Robert Lefèvre, studio of
Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte
Oil on canvas. 64 x 53 cm.
Signed and dated centre left: Robert Lefévre ft. 1812.
Verso on the stretcher two old labels with the handwritten inscription: “The original Portrait of The Emperor Napoleon painted by Robert Lefevre, in the uniform of Colonel of Chasseurs à Cheval of the Imperial Guard, his favourite costume and wearing the Cordon Grand Cross, and their Cross of the Legion of Honor [sic!], and of the Iron Crown, was presented by the Emperor Napoleon to Doctor Bourdier, First Physician to the Empress Marie Louise, on the occasion of the Birth of the King of Rome.”
The original version of this portrait was gifted by Napoleon to the Docteur Bourdier as thanks. Bourdier was doctor to his wife Marie-Louise, Archduchess of Parma, on the birth of their first son Napoleon Francois Joseph Charles Bonaparte, titled the King of Rome.
He was born on the 20th March 1811, at the height of the Empire and Napoleon's territorial conquest of Europe. At the time of this portrait in 1812, Napoleon had sovereign rule from Barcelona to Hambourg and Rome, stretching east to Danzig and Ragusa (Dubrovnik), comprising a population of 70 million.