In the context of this artwork, explore the History of the five versions of the Background.
The original painting remained in Madrid until 1812, when it was taken by Joseph Bonaparte after his abdication as King of Spain. He took it with him when he went into exile in the United States, and it hung at his Point Breeze estate near Bordentown, New Jersey. The painting was handed down through his descendants until 1949, when his great grandniece, Eugenie Bonaparte, bequeathed it to the museum of the Château de Malmaison.
The version produced for the Château de Saint-Cloud from 1801 was removed in 1814 by the Prussian soldiers under von Blücher who offered it to Frederick William III King of Prussia. It is now held in the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin.
The 1802 copy from Les Invalides was taken down and put into storage on the Bourbon Restoration of 1814; but in 1837, under the orders of Louis-Philippe, it was rehung in his newly declared museum at the Palace of Versailles, where it remains to the present day.
The 1803 version was delivered to Milan but confiscated in 1816 by the Austrians. The people of Milan refused to give it up and it remained in the city until 1825. It was finally installed at the Belvedere in Vienna in 1834. It remains there today, now part of the collection of the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere.
The version kept by David until his death in 1825 was exhibited at the Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle in 1846 (where it was remarked upon by Baudelaire). In 1850 it was offered to the future Napoleon III by David's daughter, Pauline Jeanin, and installed at the Tuileries Palace. In 1979, it was given to the museum at the Palace of Versailles.
Napoleon Milan Berlin Eugenie Bonaparte Louis-Philippe Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle Napoleon III Bourbon Restoration Château de Saint-Cloud Baudelaire Palace of Versailles Les Invalides Malmaison Tuileries Palace Charlottenburg Palace Madrid Joseph Bonaparte von Blücher Austrians Prussian Charlottenburg Belvedere Österreichische Galerie Belvedere Frederick William III King of Prussia Château de Malmaison Point Breeze Versailles Vienna Bordentown, New Jersey