Minerva Protecting the Young King of Rome

Joseph-Antoine Romagnési · 1811-01-01T00:00:00Z

This is the original plaster for a relief intended to celebrate the birth of Napoleon I's son, Napoleon II or Napoléon-François-Joseph-Charles, in 1811, who was endowed by his father with the title King of Rome in symbolic confirmation of the imperial dynasty. 27.191.2 exhibited at Salon of 1812. Formal aspects possibly inspired by Roman reliefs in Palazzo Spada, Rome. A smaller plaster relief depicting the King of Rome with the she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus also exists. Due to the Bourbon Restoration of 1814, the marble version was never completed; the marble block was instead used for Romagnési's variant composition of 1817, Minerva protecting France.