Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria

Baron François GÉRARD
French 1770–1837
Joachim Murat
1801
oil on canvas
Versailles, musée national du château MV 1114
Joachim Murat (1767–1815) was one of
Napoleon Bonaparte’s most loyal military
companions. In 1800 he married the
First Consul’s sister Caroline Bonaparte.
Following the Battle of Marengo, he was
made Governor of Paris, then promoted to
Marshal of France in 1804, Grand Admiral
in 1805 and Prince of the Empire. Finally,
in 1808, he was made king of Naples and
Sicily. A brilliant horseman who knew how
to lead men into battle, Murat had, however,
an enormous sense of his own importance,
dressing in fanciful and showy uniforms.
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