Possible Portrait of Young Napoleon

This portrait likely depicts a young Emperor Napoleon, recognisable through his distinct facial features and hair. His clothing and young age suggests that this depicts Napoleon during his time as the First Consul of the French Republic. His coat, painted in a stunning and bright blue and ornamented with golden embroidery, matches the outfit worn in a similar depiction of Napoleon by Francesco Bartolozzi. This portrait is an interesting depiction of the early manhood of one of Europe’s most important and influential historical figures.

Johann Heinrich Schmidt

Schmidt was born in 1749 in Hildburghausen and was a pupil of his father, the court painter of the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausan. Schmidt studied under J B Pierre at the Royal Academy in Paris before relocating to Turin. During this time, he undertook many important commissions of aristocrats, including the future Comtesse d’Artois, the wife of the future King Charles X of France, the young King Louis VVI as Dauphin, and Marie Antoinette.

Schmidt returned to Germany in 1775 and became a court painter in Dresden, using the town as a base from which to travel to Prague, Berlin, and Vienna. He briefly lived in towns in Latvia and Lithuania, before living in St Petersburg for two years. Whilst in Russia, he was patronised by the Grand Duchess Maria Fedorovna, the daughter-in-law of Catherine the Great.

Johann Heinrich Schmidt returned to Dresden, and passed away there in 1829. Schmidt was known for his oval formats of his works, and he specialised in the mediums of paper and vellum.