# Nude study of Pope Pius VII [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [DAVID, Jacques-Louis]() - Date: 1801-1850 - Technique: Black crayon over graphite, 293 x 253 mm ## Commentary Working on the Consecration, David planned to show the Pope watching the event with his hands on his knees, as seen in this drawing, but Napoleon intervened and in his usual forthright manner exclaimed: 'I didn't have him come all that way to do nothing.' Therefore, in the final work, Napoleon is shown raising the crown in both hands before placing it on Josephine's head. ## 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]()