Images

An 1820 oil-on-canvas portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler of the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). (Beethoven House, Bonn)

The crown of Napoleon I, created for his coronation on 2 December 1804, based on the crown of Charlemagne. Louvre, Paris.

Emperor Napoleon I (r. 1804-1815) on his throne. Oil on canvas by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1806. Musée de l'Armée, Paris.

Napoleon I (1769-1821) arrives at the Notre-Dame de Paris for his coronation ceremony, 2 December 1804. By Charles Percier and Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, 19th century.

Emperor Napoleon I in his coronation robes. Painting by François Gérard, 1805. Musée national du Château de Fontainebleau.

Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763-1814), first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte and empress consort of the French, in her coronation robes. Joséphine and her husband were coronated on 2 December 1804. Oil on canvas by Baron François Gérard, c. 1807-08...

Royalist leader Georges Cadoudal and his fellow conspirators land beneath the cliffs of Biville, Normandy during the night of 21 August 1803 as the first step in their plan to assassinate Napoleon Bonaparte and bring about a Bourbon Restoration...

Portrait of Georges Cadoudal (1771-1804), a Breton-born leader of the royalist Chouannerie rebellion during the French Revolution (1789-1799). He was executed after conspiring to kill or kidnap Napoleon Bonaparte and restore the Bourbons...

On 9 March 1804, the royalist and Chouan leader Georges Cadoudal is arrested in Paris after killing one gendarme and wounding another. Engraving by an unknown artist, c. 19th century. National Library of France, Paris.

The coronation of Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Joséphine in the Notre-Dame de Paris, 2 December 1804. Oil on canvas by Jacques-Louis David, c. 1805-1807. Louvre Museum.