Portrait of Napoléon Bonaparte, The First Council

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres painted the Bonaparte, First Consul in 1804, receiving the commission from the city of Liège when he was just 23 years old. This was one of five portraits of Napoleon commissioned to be distributed to towns newly ceded to France. The painting shows Bonaparte in the red uniform of a consul, with short hair, placing his hand inside his jacket in a civilian rather than martial pose.

Unable to get Bonaparte to sit for him, Ingres based the pose on an 1802 portrait by Antoine-Jean Gros. The background shows St. Lambert's Cathedral in Liège as complete, though it was actually being demolished during the Liège Revolution. Bonaparte's right hand prepares to sign a document titled "Faubourg d'Amercœur rebâti," referencing his 1803 decree to rebuild a suburb destroyed during fighting.

The painting measures 227 x 147 cm and now resides at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Liège (La Boverie). This first Napoleonic portrait by Ingres is considered one of the finest depictions of the young Napoleon, demonstrating the Neoclassical precision that would define his career.