Louis Napoleon in the costume of a Prince of the French Empire

After the original by Baron Francois Gerard

Painter: Unknown

Oil on canvas

150 x 110cm

This painting of Napoleon’s brother Louis, shows him in his white velvet uniform of a Prince of France, wearing the grand codron (sash), star and chain of a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour.

Napoleon made Louis King of Holland on June 5, 1806 and had intended for him to be little more than a French governor of Holland, but Louis took his duties as King seriously, calling himself Koning Lodewijk I (the Dutch form of his name). Louis’ reign in Holland, however, was short-lived as he soon began to put Dutch interests ahead of those of Napoleon’s and he was eventually forced to abdicate July 1, 1810. Nine days later Napoleon annexed the Kingdom as part of the French Empire.