Sunday, October 14, 2007


Here is that other Napoleon, gracing the stairwell of Apsley House, Hyde Park Corner where my floor canvas will go. It is absolutely enormous: it is possible to distinguish me vaguely , standing beneath the statue's right hand. Napoleon commissioned it from Canova, but when it was delivered he had an uncharacteristic display of modesty. He found it embarrassing and to his credit he noted that his physique was not quite like that... later the Duke of Wellington bought it, presumably getting a kick out of seeing his vanquished enemy every day.

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