Napoleon Bonaparte receiving the keys of Vienna at the Schloss Schönbrunn, 13th November 1805

This large canvas, dated 1808, re-creates an episode from 13 November 1805, during the War of the Third Coalition. After the occupation of Vienna, Napoleon receives the keys to the city at Schönbrunn Palace from its mayor, Stephan von Wohlleben. Around him gather French marshals such as Bessières, Berthier, Murat and Duroc, along with Roustam Raza, his trusted mamluk attendant. The scene is not limited to the elite: on one side, women, children and other onlookers watch the ceremony, and two boys climb a nearby tree, a detail that softens the formality of the official occasion. A few weeks later Napoleon would win his decisive victory at Austerlitz. Girodet received the commission from the authorities of the Napoleonic era, intended to hang in the Tuileries Palace in Paris, and the painting was shown at the Salon of 1808 at the Louvre. Today it belongs to the collection of the Palace of Versailles, although the record lists the Musée de l'Histoire de France.

Painter

Anne-Louis Girodet

Date

1808

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

380 × 532 cm

Museum

Musée de l'Histoire de France, Versailles

Genre

history painting

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