His formal painting, Sacre de L’Empereur Napoléon Ier et Couronnement de l’Impératrice Joséphine, which was exhibited at the Louvre to huge crowds in February 1808, wasn’t intended to be historically accurate: Madame Mère was included, and Hortense and Napoleon’s three sisters were depicted standing well away from Josephine’s train, which in fact they had been prevailed upon to carry at the moment of Josephine’s coronation.
Cardinal Caprara didn’t like the look of his bald head in the painting, and demanded of Talleyrand that he force David to depict him in a wig, but at that David baulked.
Bonus:
For the curious, here is the painting mentioned.
Source:
Roberts, Andrew. "Coronation." Napoleon: A Life. New York: Penguin, 2014. 356. Print.
Original Source(s) Listed:
Knapton, Empress Josephine p. 229.
Bausset, Private Memoirs p. 31.
Further Reading:
Nobile Maria Letizia Buonaparte née Ramolino (Marie-Lætitia Ramolino, Madame Mère de l'Empereur)
Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte (née de Beauharnais), Queen Consort of Holland
Napoleone di Buonaparte / Napoléon Bonaparte / Napoleon I
Joséphine de Beauharnais (née Tascher de la Pagerie)
Giovanni Battista Caprara Montecuccoli
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord / Prince of Benevento / Prince of Talleyrand
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