Napoleon in frock coat

The original of this statuette surmounts a miniature version of the Vendôme Column, due to the talent of the medal engraver Nicolas-Guy-Antoine Brenet. This 1/24th reduction was exhibited at the 1834 Salon after several years of work, especially the low-reliefs of the shaft, of which all the details had to be reproduced with infinite care. For even greater fidelity to the original, Brenet copied the statue that once again embellished the top of the Column after 1833. The original statue by Chaudet, portraying Napoleon as a Roman emperor, had been removed during the Restoration. For fifteen years, the Column, deprived of its imperial effigy, was the rallying point for Bonapartist demonstrations. Finally, in 1831, Louis-Philippe decided to put back a statue on the top of the monument, and the sculptor Charles-Émile Seurre was commissioned to make a statue of the “Small Corporal” to be erected in the place of the Roman “Imperator” by Chaudet.