Portal:Opera/Selected picture/33
Credit: François Gérard (1770–1837)
Napoleon Bonaparte depicted in 1803 as the First Consul of France. Six years later, he commissioned the opera Pimmalione to show off the talents of two of his favourite singers, his lover Giuseppina Grassini and the famous castrato Girolamo Crescentini. It was first given in a private performance at the Tuileries Palace. Napoleon was delighted with the work and offered its composer, Luigi Cherubini, a large reward and a commission for another piece. Napoleon himself appears as a character in several operas including Prokofiev's War and Peace and Giordano's Madame Sans-Gêne.