# Napoleon Holding Josephine's Crown [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [DAVID, Jacques-Louis]() - Date: 1801-1850 - Technique: Black crayon, 293 x 253 mm ## Commentary While painting the Consecration, David was faced with the problem of selecting the most significant moment of the ceremony to commemorate. At first, he planned to show Napoleon raising Josephine's crown above his own crowned head while pressing his ceremonial sword close to his heart. Although it is often said that this drawing and others show Napoleon crowning himself, it is known that he did not put on two crowns \(itself a difficult task\), and the crown he holds is certainly that of Josephine. ## Related artworks - [Allegory of the French People Offering the Crown and Sceptre to the King]() - [Andromache Mourning Hector]() - [Anne-Marie-Louise Thélusson, Comtesse de Sorcy]() - [Antiochus and Stratonica]() - [Belisarius Receiving Alms]() - [Bonaparte, Calm on a Fiery Steed, Crossing the Alps \(detail\)]() - [Bonaparte, Calm on a Fiery Steed, Crossing the Alps]() - [Brutus]() - [Christ on the Cross]() - [Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine]() - [Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I \(detail\)]() - [Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()