James Sant

G. Gengembre, Napoléon. L'empereur immortel, Paris 2002, p. 173 (as commissioned by Lord Rosebury);

Napoléon, l'Empereur sous la verrière du Grand Palais : La collection Pierre-Jean Chalençon, cat. exh. Grand Palais, Paris 2018, p. 76.

Auxerre and Sens, musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Au service de Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène, March-September 2003, cat. no. 116 (as commissioned by Lord Rosebury);

Napoleon: An Intimate Portrait. A travelling exhibition from the Russell Etling Company featuring the Collection of Pierre-Jean Chalençon, Catalogue by Pierre-Jean Chalençon, Brett Topping and Russell Hull Etling, Russell Etling Company, 2005-2011, p. 90;

Paris, Musée de l'Armée, La conquête de la mémoire. Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène, April-July 2016, cat. no. 131.

The painting, probably dating to 1895–1896, shows the Emperor during the final days of his life on St Helena, where he lived in exile from 1815 until his death in 1821. Only the face is described, his clothing merging with an indeterminate brown background. Defeated, showing the signs of his age, his ordeals and his illnesses, he seems to be mulling over his glorious past one last time, his eyes already dimmed and soon to be closed by death. The work was much admired in its time and copied on several occasions. There is an example in the Musée de Waterloo.

Lord Rosebery, prime minister to Queen Victoria, was passionately interested in Napoleon and assembled a collection of objects from St Helena, acquired in various auctions. He kept them in Dalmeny Castle, his home in Scotland.