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Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne
Artist / Origin: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (French, 1780–1867)
Region: Europe
Date: 1806
Period: 1800 CE – 1900 CE
Material: Oil on canvas
Medium: Painting
Dimensions: H: 102 in. (259 cm.), W: 63 3/4 in. (162 cm.)
Location: Musée de l’Armée, Paris, France
Credit: Courtesy of Bridgeman Art Library International
Standing Statue of Hatshepsut
Artist / Origin: Unknown artist, Thebes, Egypt
Region: Africa
Date: New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1479–1458 BCE
Period: 3000 BCE – 500 BCE
Material: Granite (originally with paint)
Medium: Sculpture
Dimensions: H: 94 ½ in. (242 cm.) (without base)
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, New York
Credit: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource, NY
For thousands of years, rulers and would-be rulers have used portraits to assert their legitimacy, proclaim their power, and solidify their authority. Portraits could be especially important for a sovereign whose actual right to rule was questionable or contested. Such is the case with Napoleon and Hatshepsut, both of whom adopt traditional trappings and postures of rule in their portraits.