Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I (detail)
by DAVID, Jacques-Louis, Oil on canvas
David planned to show the Pope watching the event with his hands on his knees, but Napoleon intervened and in his usual forthright manner exclaimed: ‘I didn’t have him come all that way to do nothing.’ Therefore, in the final work the Pope gives a blessing with his mitre at his feet and with his magnificent papal tiara, a gift from Napoleon, placed on the altar behind him.