O Imperador Napoleão em seu Gabinete nas Tulherias

David painted this in 1812, and it is full of small clues about the hour. The clock on the wall reads past four in the morning. The candles have burned low, Napoleon's stockings are wrinkled, his hair is untidy, and the sword lies aside. He has clearly been up all night, and the papers tell you at what. On the desk is the word Code, his great civil law that reorganised France. So the picture argues that the Emperor works through the night on the nation's laws while everyone sleeps. What is odd is who paid for that flattering image. It was commissioned by a Scottish admirer, the Duke of Hamilton, and hung for decades in a house in Scotland.