The story of the death mask of Napoleon Bonaparte is a fascinating one to say the least. He died on May 5th, 1821, on the small island of St. Helena where he had been exiled for life after his shattering defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. He was 51 years old. In keeping with the custom at that time for great leaders, a mold was made of Napoleon's face shortly after his passing. Here is where the story gets interesting... 

A cast was made by Dr. Francis Burton approximately a day and a half after Napoleon died. But, there was another doctor present at the time of Napoleon’s death, Dr. Antommarchi, who some say was mistakenly credited as the doctor who made the original mold. Immediately after the cast was made, it was stolen. It is believed that a woman named Madame Bertrand, Napoleon’s attendant, took the mold and sailed back to England. Dr. Burton tried but was unsuccessful in getting the cast back.

        Antommarchi Mask
     Several years later… a death mask turned up,
     authenticated by Dr. Antommarchi, as the
     original mask of Napoleon. Some experts on
     Napoleonic history argue against its
     authenticity.

     This “Antommarchi” mask had a youthful
     look and the shape of the face was bigger and
     proportionally different when compared to
     the portraits that had been painted of the
     Emperor Napoleon. It is the official mask
currently on display at Les Invalides in Paris, France, and is located in
close proximity to the sarcophagus containing the supposed remains of
Napoleon Bonaparte. Some say that this death mask  was molded from
the face of the Emperor’s valet, Jean-Baptiste Cipriani.  

To go further into the story… it is also believed that the bodies were switched and the remains inside the sarcophagus at Les Invalides are not of Napoleon, but those of his valet. Who would have made this switch and more importantly, why?

There is another mask, however, that some historians believe to be the authentic one made from the mold created by Dr. Burton…  and it is this mask that my analysis is based on.
                                               
                                                                                         RUSI Mask     
The “RUSI” mask, which stands for the
“Royal United Services Institute”, was on
display in this small military museum in
London for years until 1973, when the
museum closed and the mask was sold.
At the request of the owner of this mask, I performed a detailed analysis.

This mask does not show the face of a young
man, but portrays the countenance of a man
of similar age and proportion to the last known portrait painted of the Emperor (artwork done by Sir Charles Lock Eastlake on board the
ship "Bellerophon")  while enroute to the island of St. Helena.  
        
                                                                                                          Close up of face
 

The similarities between the two cannot be
discounted or overlooked. 

To take the analysis of the RUSI mask one step
further… there are some proportional similar-
ities to Napoleon’s descendant, his son, Count
Alexandre Joseph Colonna-Walewski.

              
       Alexandre                                                                   Full size painting
               


            Coincidence?