Napoleon Bonaparte
The mask of Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the most prolifically copied- and far-reaching in the world. On May 7, 1821, the former Emperor of France died of a stomach ulcer, disgraced and in exile on the island of St Helene. However, despite his fall from power, the former emperor was very much in demand- or at least his face was. For Napoleon still had his admirers- and those in attendance at his death knew there was money to be made from a death mask that could be used to create busts of the Emperor’s last image.
A day and a half after Napoleon’s death at least one, possibly two masks were created. Dr. Francesco Antommarchi claimed to have created one. However, while Antommarchi indeed possessed a death mask of Napoleon in the 1830’s, there is some doubt as to whether he created it himself. Yet, a mask was undoubtedly made by Napoleon’s English Surgeon Francis Burton. However, the mask was incomplete as Burton only held a cast of the back of the dictator’s head and ears. Burton claimed Madame Bertrand, one of Napoleon’s attendants, had stolen the face of the mask from him. So he took her to court to reclaim his property.
Burton lost the case. The story then goes that Madame Bertrand gave her part of the mask to Dr. Antommarchi who passed it off as his own- and used it to create a number of copies that were used to produce castings of Napoleon’s face in plaster and bronze. Antommarchi was profligate with his copy of the mask. He created one copy for the Florentine sculpture Canova. However, Canova died before he could sculpt his bust of Napoleon and so his mask reverted to the man who had delivered it to him, the British envoy, Lord Burghersh. Burghersh, in turn, used his mask to create a copy of Napoleon’s face that now be found in the National Museum.
Antommarchi subsequently traveled to North and South America, leaving copies of napoleon’s face wherever he went. The copy now in the museum of Santiago de Cuba was a gift made to the Cuban general Juan de Moya in 1833. In 1834, Antommarchi traveled to New Orleans where another bronze copy was deposited, as well as a plaster copy that he passed onto a fellow physician Dr. Edwin Smith. This copy finally found its way to the University of North Carolina. The base is inscribed with Napoleon’s last words: “tete d’armee’ – head of the army.
Antommarchi’s copies have also been found in Boston and as far afield as Auckland, New Zealand. Napoleon may have been thwarted in his efforts to expand his empire. However, after his death, the image of his dying face has visited places he could only have dreamt of.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
Heirs of Widows, Time Magazine, October 15, 1951
Memories and Reminiscences of France, Madame Tussaud, Saunders and Otley, 1838
Death mask of Oliver Cromwell, British Archaeology at the Ashmolean Museum
Luther’s Death, Dr. Volkmar Joestel
Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, Westminster Abbey website
Death Mask Edward (Ned) Kelly (1854 – 1880), Australian National Trust website
Ned Kelly’s Deathmask, State Library of Victoria
Queen’s death Mask goes on Show, BBC News, August 1, 2006
Widow of Heydrich Says `Holocaust’ New York Times, February 7, 1979
Beethoven Death Mask, Carole Bos, Awesome Stories, Oct 7, 2013
Martin Luther’s Death Mask on View at Museum in Halle, Germany, Art daily.org
In Life…In Death, Maureen Buja, Interlude, April 9, 2015
Resusci Anne and L’Inconnue: The Mona Lisa of the Seine, Jeremy Grange, BBC News, October 16, 2013
The Story of Napoleon’s Death Mask, George Leo de St M Watson, John Lane, 1915