Portret van Napoleon III Bonaparte, keizer van Frankrijk c. 1863 - 1880

This is Étienne Neurdein’s portrait of Napoleon III Bonaparte, Emperor of France. Portraits of heads of state are inevitably caught up in the game of image-making, and this one is no exception. Neurdein was active as a photographer in France from the 1860s onward, during a period of great change to the institutions of the art world. Photography was often seen as a challenge to the established hierarchy of painting, but it also took on some of painting’s traditional functions, like the representation of power and status. Here, Napoleon III is pictured in a formal pose, wearing military attire and a sash decorated with medals. This is an image intended to convey authority and to consolidate a certain idea of French identity. As historians, we might look to the popular press of the time to explore the way images like this circulated and were received. Comparing them to other images of the Emperor can tell us how the cultural meanings of leadership were being constructed.