Bonaparte, Premier Consul

By 1802 Napoleon was First Consul and, for a brief moment, at peace. The treaty signed at Amiens with Britain that year halted nearly a decade of war, and it was in that pause that he sat, in theory, for this portrait. He wears the red consular coat rather than a general's uniform, and one hand rests near papers of state instead of a sword. Gros had followed Bonaparte on campaign in Italy years before and painted him young amid the smoke of battle. Here the message is a different one, of a ruler settling into government. Napoleon liked the image enough to have copies sent to cities across France, so that the same calm figure in red looked out from town halls he would never visit.