Skip to content
The Great Britain Guide

Public art & sculpture · London

Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker

Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker in England London, United Kingdom.

The State Dining Room in Apsley House - geograph.org.uk - 7822397

Marathon — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
1 h–2 h

About

Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker is a public sculpture in England London, United Kingdom, dating from 1806. Britain's public art ranges from Henry Moore reclining figures and Anthony Gormley installations to the Angel of the North and the surviving statues of empire.

Photo gallery

From the Wikipedia article

Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker is a colossal heroic nude statue by the Italian artist Antonio Canova, of Napoleon I of France in the guise of the Roman god Mars. He holds a gilded Nike or Victory standing on an orb in his right hand and a staff in his left. It was produced between 1802 and 1806 and stands 3.45 metres to the raised left hand. Once on display in the Louvre in Paris, it was purchased from Louis XVIII in 1816 by the British government, which granted it to the Duke of Wellington. It is now on display in Robert Adam's stairwell at the Duke's London residence, Apsley House.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

At Napoleon's personal and insistent demand, Canova went to Paris in 1802 to model a bust of him. In 1803, after his return to Rome, he began work on the full-length sculpture; it was completed in 1806. Its idealised nude physique draws on the iconography of Augustus, and it was always intended for an interior entrance-hall setting rather than as a freestanding piazza sculpture, though some accounts give the centre of the courtyard of the Palazzo del Senato as the original intended site for the sculpture, following plans drawn up by the architect Luigi Canonica. France's ambassador in Rome François Cacault and the director of French museums Vivant Denon both saw the sculpture while it was a…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
51.5036, -0.1517
Address
149 Piccadilly, London, W1J 7NT
Established
1806
Opening
We-Su 11:00-17:00

Sources

Other places nearby

Loading nearby places…

Nearby

More places in this region

Frequently asked questions

Where is Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker?
Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker is in London, in the United Kingdom — coordinates 51.5036°, -0.1517°.
When was Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker built?
Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker dates to 1806.
What are the opening hours for Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker?
OpenStreetMap records opening hours as: We-Su 11:00-17:00. Check the official site to confirm seasonal changes.