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Death Mask of Napoleon
Inscriptions
Inscribed: Dr. F. Antommarch engraved (left neck truncation); FONDU / PAR RICHARD ET QUESNEL / A PARIS engraved (right neck truncation); SOUSCRIPTION / DR. ANTOMMARCHI 1833 (under neck truncation); Cast: seal showing profile of Napoleon crowned with laurel wreath, NAPOLEON EMP. ET ROI. (inscribed around welded under neck truncation)
Provenance
E. (Edward) Blake Blair, Jr. (died 1985), Chicago, before 1985; consigned to Leslie Hindman Auctioneers (withdrawn), 1986; purchased by the Art Institute, 1987.
Publications
International College of Surgeons, Hall of Fame: A Museum of the History of Surgery and Related Sciences (Chicago, 1964), p. 15. Robert Kashey and Martin L. H. Reymert, Western Bronzes of the Nineteenth Century: A Survey, ex. cat. (New York: Shepherd Gallery, 1973), no. 12. James David Draper, The Arts under Napoleon, ex. cat. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1978), no. 197. Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, Old Master, 19th and 20th Century Paintings, Drawings, and Prints, English, American, and Continental Furniture and Decorations, Oriental Works of Art, Porcelain, Silver, Jewelry, and Rugs, sale cat. (May 11-14, 1986), lot 69. “Napoleon’s Death Mask,” Member’s Bulletin: The Napoleonic Society of America 15 (June 1987), p. 16 (ill.). Christie’s, Fine French and Continental Furniture, Objects of Art, Clocks, Carpets, Tapestries and Sculpture, sale cat. (November 24, 1987), p. 236, lot 265.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Dr. C. Francesco Antommarchi (Italian, 1780–1838) / Cast by Louis Richard and E. Quesnel, Paris (French, 1821–1836)
- Date
- Modeled 1821, cast 1833
- Medium
- Bronze
- Dimensions
- 34.9 × 35.6 × 15.2 cm (13 3/4 × 14 × 6 in.)
- Type
- Sculpture
- Classification
- bust/head
- Style
- nineteenth century
- Place
- Paris
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Estate of E. Blake Blair
- Accession no.
- 1987.185
More by Dr. C. Francesco Antommarchi in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00001874
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