Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker

At the base of the grand staircase in Apsley House stands a colossal marble figure that reaches over eleven feet in height. This is Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker, a sculpture depicting the French emperor as a heroic, nude Roman deity. Napoleon commissioned the Italian artist Antonio Canova to create this work in eighteen hundred and two, intending it as a masterpiece of imperial propaganda to celebrate his image as a bringer of peace. However, when Napoleon finally laid eyes on the finished statue years later, he immediately banned it from public view. He felt the idealized, athletic physique was entirely unconvincing, famously complaining that the sculpture was far too athletic for his own frame.