Coronation of Napoleon
Jacques-Louis David’s monumental record of empire — nearly ten metres of imperial pageantry.
The Coronation of Napoleon (Le Sacre de Napoléon) is one of the largest paintings in the Louvre, measuring an immense 6.21 by 9.79 metres. Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon’s official painter, worked on it between 1805 and 1807.
It captures the ceremony of 2 December 1804 at Notre-Dame de Paris — but instead of his own self-crowning, David chose the moment when Napoleon, already wearing the laurel wreath, raises the crown to place it on the head of his kneeling wife, the Empress Joséphine. Behind them Pope Pius VII gives his blessing.
Crowded with more than a hundred meticulously portrayed figures, the canvas is a masterpiece of Neoclassical portraiture and imperial propaganda. It hangs in the Denon wing.
- 🖼️TypeOil on canvas · 6.21 × 9.79 m
- 🎨ArtistJacques-Louis David
- 📅Date1805–1807
- 🏛️RoomDenon wing · Salle Daru
- 📍LocationMusée du Louvre, 75001 Paris
About the Louvre
The Louvre is the world’s largest and most-visited art museum. Once the fortress and royal palace of the kings of France, it opened as a public museum in 1793 and today holds some 35,000 works spanning antiquity to the mid-19th century — from Egyptian antiquities and Greek marbles to the French Crown Jewels.
Since 1989, visitors enter beneath the glass Pyramid designed by architect I. M. Pei, which opens onto the museum’s three wings — Denon, Sully and Richelieu — arranged around the Cour Napoléon. The Louvre stands in the 1st arrondissement along the Rue de Rivoli, beside the Tuileries Gardens and the Seine.
The museum is open every day except Tuesday, from 9 am to 6 pm (with a late evening on Fridays). Timed tickets are strongly recommended and can be booked on the official site, louvre.fr; under-18s enter free, as do EU residents under 26. Nearest métro: Palais-Royal–Musée du Louvre (lines 1 and 7).
Where to see it — the Louvre and around
The Louvre (pulsing marker) at the centre. Toggle the filters to explore the heritage, gardens, restaurants and activities of the 1st arrondissement — and the hotels around it.