''Portrait of Napoleon II'' is an 1819

portrait painting Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commissio ...

by the British

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English people, English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was a ...

depicting

Napoleon II Napoleon II (Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte; 20 March 181122 July 1832) was the disputed Emperor of the French for a few weeks in 1815. He was the son of Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, Marie Louise, d ...

, the young son of the deposed French Emperor

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

and his wife

Marie Louise Marie Louise or Marie-Louise is a French feminine given name, compound given name. In other languages, it may take one of several alternate forms: * Maria Luiza (Bulgarian, Portuguese) * Maria Luisa (Italian, Spanish) * Maria Luise (German) * Mari ...

, a member of the Austrian imperial family.

History and description

Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1814 he had abdicated in favour of his young son, but had instead been replaced by the restored Bourbon monarchy of

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

. The younger Napoleon was taken to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

(ruled by his grandfather

Francis I of Austria Francis II and I (; 12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor as Francis II from 1792 to 1806, and the first Emperor of Austria as Francis I from 1804 to 1835. He was also King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, and served ...

), where he became known as the Duke of Reichstadt. To

Bonapartists Bonapartism () is the political ideology supervening from Napoleon Bonaparte and his followers and successors. The term was used in the narrow sense to refer to people who hoped to restore the House of Bonaparte and its style of government. In ...

he was the legitimate heir to his father, then imprisoned in British custody on the island of

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

. In 1832, he died at the age of twenty-one of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. Lawrence, Britain's leading portraitist, had recently attended the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle to paint European leaders, as part of a large-scale commission from the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness) or ab ...

. He then travelled on to the Austrian capital to continue his commission of major figures of the

Habsburg dynasty The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

, including a '' Portrait of the Austrian Emperor''. The eight-year old Napoleon sat for Lawrence, first for a pencil-portrait in profile and then for this full-face painting intended for an oval shaped portrait. It remained unfinished and

Michael Levey Sir Michael Vincent Levey, LVO, FBA, FRSL (8 June 1927 – 28 December 2008) was a British art historian and was the director of the National Gallery from 1973 to 1986. Biography Levey was born in Wimbledon, London, and grew up in Leigh-on-S ...

considered this made it "only the more haunting and poignant". The resemblance of the boy in the painting to his father was moving to General Bertrand and his wife Fanny, who had accompanied Napoleon I into exile. Today it is in the collection of the

Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

, having been acquired in 1943.https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/230446?position=1

References

Bibliography

* De Witt, Laetitia. ''L'Aiglon: Le rêve brisé de Napoléon''. Tallandier, 2020. * Haynes, Christine. ''Our Friends the Enemies. The Occupation of France after Napoleon''. Harvard University Press, 2018. * Levey, Michael. ''Sir Thomas Lawrence''. Yale University Press, 2005. * Mackenzie, Norman. ''The Escape From Elba: The Fall & Flight of Napoleon 1814-1815''. Pen and Sword, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Portrait of Napoleon II 1819 paintings Paintings by Thomas Lawrence Paintings in the Harvard Art Museums Cultural depictions of Napoleon II 19th-century portraits Oil on canvas paintings Paintings of children