Bust of Napoleon Bonaparte at The Fine Arts Museum in Ghent, Belgium

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This bust of Napoleon I, who ruled from 1796 to 1821, is modeled after a design by the French sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet, born in 1763 and died in 1810. Working within the Neoclassical style, Chaudet's 'herm' form, with shoulders cut off and straight sides, mirrors that of Roman imperial portraits. In 1799, Chaudet created an original plaster model for the portrait, which was later transformed into a marble version in 1804. This final marble image became Napoleon's preferred likeness after he had been crowned Emperor of France and it quickly gained widespread popularity as the official portrait, being widely reproduced. The Sevres porcelain factory began producing biscuit (hard) porcelain versions of this bust in three different sizes starting from 1805. At that time, Italy was under French rule, and Napoleon had presented his sister Elisa Baciocchi with the principality of Lucca and Massa-Carrara, an area that included the Apuan Alps where Carrara marble was extracted. Her orders resulted in multiple copies of Chaudet's busts being carved by the workshops in Carrara, resulting in at least 1,200 marble versions between 1807 and 1809. This example is likely one of these official portraits originally intended for public buildings in France. The majority were destroyed after the Bourbon monarchy was restored in 1814.