Coronation of Napoleon — 2 décembre 1804

In Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in the presence of Pope Pius VII. Josephine was crowned Empress. The ceremony sealed the fusion of revolutionary legitimacy and monarchical tradition.

Founding a dynasty

Proclaimed emperor by senatus-consultum on 18 May 1804, Napoleon wanted a consecration that would give his house the legitimacy a vote could not. A coronation at Reims was ruled out — too Bourbon; it would be Notre-Dame, and the pope would come to Paris, reversing Charlemagne's journey. Pius VII accepted, hoping to obtain the withdrawal of the Organic Articles in exchange: he obtained nothing.

The ceremony

On 2 December, in sharp cold, the cathedral was dressed in neo-Gothic décor by Percier and Fontaine. The procession left the Tuileries at ten. The pope performed the anointings; then, at the moment of crowning, the Emperor took the crown from the altar and crowned himself, before crowning Joséphine kneeling before him. The gesture, prepared rather than improvised, meant that he held his power from no one.

The oath sworn on the Gospel promised to maintain equality of rights, freedom of worship and the irrevocability of the national lands: the Revolution was sworn to inside a cathedral.

An image for Europe

David took three years to paint the Coronation: ten metres of canvas, one hundred and ninety-one figures, and Letizia Bonaparte shown in the gallery although she had stayed away in Rome. The painting, more than the day itself, fixed the image of the regime.

On 5 December the distribution of the Eagles on the Champ-de-Mars gave the army its own coronation; on 26 May following, Napoleon placed the iron crown of the Lombard kings on his head in Milan.