Napoleon I on the Imperial Throne Eagle detail

Napoleon Bonaparte became the Emperor of France through the May 18, 1804 senate decree. The lavish coronation ceremony was held a few months later, on December 2, 1804, at Notre-Dame in Paris. Napoleon donned various outfits for the ceremony, including the full coronation attire that was worn during the actual crowning. It was in this attire, including a crimson velvet mantle adorned with golden bees, that the painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres portrayed the Emperor in 1806.
Napoleon is wearing his mantle embroidered with bees which, along with the eagle, was one of the emblems chosen for the Empire. He wears a laurel crown on his head, which, like the color purple, evokes images of the emperors of Ancient Rome. You can also note the presence of certain regalia (objects that represent the power transferred during the coronation, which were previously borne by the kings of France): the scepter topped with a statuette of Charlemagne, the Hand of Justice (on the right), and the sword modeled on Joyeuse, the legendary sword of Charlemagne. The motifs on the carpet include the zodiac signs traditionally associated with the figure of Jupiter, as well as the silhouette of the Madonna della Seggiola, by Raphaël.
This portrait is still one of the most famous of Napoleon to this day. However, it wasn't well-received at the time, as contemporary peers deemed it gothic and barbaric when it was displayed at the 1806 Salon. The composition's originality, with Napoleon portrayed sitting and facing forward, his head emerging from a body swathed in imposing attire, distances itself from the typical depictions of the Emperor. Here he is seen more as a Byzantine icon or an Olympian Jupiter, and the painting gives the impression of a hyper-realistic face floating over an abstract body.