In Notre-Dame on 2 December 1804, Napoleon, already wearing a golden laurel wreath, raises a crown over the kneeling Josephine while Pope Pius VII sits behind him, hand lifted in blessing. David, the emperor's official painter, worked on this canvas, almost ten metres wide, from 1805 to 1807. It is as much careful political stage-management as a record of the day.
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Napoleon's mother sits in the central box, although she stayed away from the ceremony. Faint outlines show that David first painted Napoleon crowning himself.
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Compared by a vision model
