Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), half-length, his hands resting on the hilt of a sword, before a landscape

Andrea Appiani was Napoleon's slightly older contemporary and among the best-known north Italian painters of his day, trained in the traditions of great history painting and portraiture. He first entered the studio of Carlo Maria de Giudice and then the Florentine Giuliano Traballesi but it was his move to Paris in 1801 that gave him an opportunity to absorb the lessons of Davidian neo-classicism. He was particularly admired for his fine frescoes in the royal palace in Milan and executed portraits of many of the leading figures of his day. Appointed painter to the Crown, he painted Napoleon as First Consul, then Emperor, on several occasions throughout the decade, including an early portrait of Bonaparte as First Consul executed in 1803 (collection of the Duke of Lodi, Villa Melzi, Bellagio) and another from two years later, depicting Napoleon in his robes as Emperor and King of Italy (Kunsthistorische Museum, Vienna).

The present work is in an Empire frame with a medallion of Napoleon inserted.