Napoleon Crowns Himself Emperor

December 2, 1804

In Notre-Dame, beneath Pius VII's startled gaze, Napoleon lifted the laurel crown from the altar and placed it on his own head, then crowned Josephine. The gesture, captured by David on enormous canvas, said everything: the Revolution had made an emperor who owed nothing to God or Rome. Beethoven, who had dedicated his Third Symphony to Bonaparte, furiously scratched out the dedication and renamed it the Eroica.