1806 and 1807. Canvas. 241"" high by 367" wide. Signed below, at right : L. David febat, Dated below, at left : 1806 and 1807.

When Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor of France by the Senate on May 18, 1804, he insisted that the nation be consulted and discreetly urged the Pope to officiate at the coronation, thus identifying himself with the tradition of the Pepins and Charlemagnes.

Two successive ceremonies took place : at a solemn session on December 1, the Senate submitted the results of the plebiscite to the Emperor, and on December 2, Napoleon received the triple unction from the hand of Pius VII in the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. David, a former member of the National Convention, had been promoted to painter to His Majesty. In this capacity he had received the commission for a painting commemorating the coronation and was a witness to the event.

Seated in a box near the main altar, he made sketches of the ceremony. Afterwards he made many drawings, redoing a single study several times. In order to arrange the figures, he asked his former pupil, Madame Mongez, to make figurines which could be arranged in various ways. To achieve the architectural perspective, he consulted Degotti, the scenographer at the Opera. An old church was converted into a studio and placed at his disposal, so that he could work comfortably on the immense canvas, which he was not to complete until the end of the year 1807.

After a first sketch, in which he had shown Napoleon crowning himself, David finally immortalized the crowning of Josephine. The three principal characters are linked by their gestures which narrate the unfolding scene. The Pope, seated before the main altar, raises his hand as a sign of benediction, while the Emperor holds up a crown and turns toward the  Empress. She kneels on a cushion, her head bowed. The soft profile of Josephine marks the exact center of the picture, and Napoleon's gesture links the figures massed near the main altar and those grouped at the left of the canvas. The admirable composition, clear and balanced, is enhanced by beautiful lighting which brings out the essential nature of the ceremony and intensifies the richness of the  colors. The brocaded silks of the costumes, the large plumes of the hats, the purple of the velvets, the gold of the embroideries and the magnificent products of the goldsmith's art glitter in all their sumptuousness.

Amid this splendor, David set up a whole gallery of portraits, bringing to life again the high dignitaries of the Church and of the Empire. The imperial family is in a conspicuous position: the Emperor's sisters and sisters-in-law, along with Joseph and Louis Bonaparte, occupy the left foreground of the picture, while Napoleon's mother, surrounded by her chamberlains and ladies in waiting, seems to preside over the ceremony from the central rostrum. Actually, on that day she was far from Napoleon and was with Lucien, who together with Jerome, had rebelled against the Emperor's tyrannical hold on his family. David achieved immediate and great success. On January 4, 1808, the Emperor visited the studio and ordered that the canvas be hung in the main Salon of the Louvre, where the public was admitted starting on February 7. Visitors came in droves and displayed genuine enthusiasm. On the 14th, many artists paid public homage to David and placed garlands of laurel and flowers before his masterpiece. On March 20, the exhibition was closed for David to begin a copy requested by the Americans. After appearing at the Salon, which did not reopen its doors until October 14, the original canvas was hung in the palace of the Tuileries. In 1814 it was returned to David, who turned it cover to the Beaux-Arts administrators in 1820. Exhibited at Versailles from 1837 to 1889, it has hung in the Louvre ever since.

Its place in the Museum of French History in the Palace of Versailles is occupied by a replica acquired in 1946. David completed this copy in Brussels in 1822 with the help of Rouget, who had already assisted him in the execution of the original canvas. It was exhibited in 1826 and 1827 in New York, Philadelphia and Boston.