CARPEAUX, Jean-Baptiste
(b. 1827, Valenciennes, d. 1875, Courbevoie)

Napoléon III, Emperor of the French

1873
Marble, height 52 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Carpeaux was the favourite sculptor of the family Emperor Napoléon III (1808-1873). He made marble statue of Prince-Imperial Louis-Napoléon, busts of Empress Eugenie and the emperor's cousin Princess Matilda Bonaparte. However, he did not carve a bust of the emperor until the end of Napoléon III's life. It was completed posthumously.