This museum-grade replica of Napoleon Bonaparte’s death mask reproduces the historically accepted “Antommarchi-type” likeness, an iconic relic of the Napoleonic era associated with the postmortem casting made on Saint Helena in May 1821.
Accounts from the period identify both the British surgeon Francis Burton and Napoleon’s physician, Dr. Francesco Antommarchi, as involved in the casting and early handling of molds and copies. Regardless of which surviving example descends most directly from a “parent” mold, the Antommarchi form became the best-known version distributed in Europe in the 1830s and remains the most commonly catalogued institutional likeness.
The Antommarchi death mask is treated as a documentary object: a fixed, three-dimensional record of Napoleon’s final features in the context of exile and death at Longwood House. Institutional examples exist in major collections; for instance, The Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogs a bronze “Death mask of Napoleon I” attributed to Antommarchi (cast in plaster 1821; bronze executed later), and scholarly inventories document related plaster masks associated with Malmaison.
That curatorial context is why replicas proliferate, yet most inexpensive versions are fragile plaster meant to sit untouched. This replica is engineered to withstand rotation in a collection.
This piece is hand-shaped and finished with hard, heat-resistant museum-grade conservation wax over reconstituted limestone, pulverized bronze and acrylic to reproduce the correct luster and withstand harsh museum lighting. It will not lighten or darken with time. The museum display tag reads, “Impression shortly after death by Francesco Antommarchi.”
Approximate dimensions and weight: 12 in (30 cm) long; approx 420 g.
Made in the USA. Credit to HoofiePuppet, under Creative Commons, via Thingiverse 7017789
