The death mask of Napoleon I is the imprint of the emperor's face taken shortly after his death in 1821 and cast in plaster.
The circumstances of the fingerprinting made it a subject of controversy. There are several masks presented as the authentic imprint of Napoleon's face, named after the name of one of the doctors of Saint Helena who took the imprint: Archibald Arnott, Francis Burton and François Antommarchi. The official mask is the “Antommarchi mask”. One of the first copies of the mask is on display at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris, the one kept at the Château de Malmaison museum, from the Antommarchi family, seems to be the oldest one.
History of the mask
On May 5, 1821, Napoleon expired at 5:49 p.m., his corpse was placed under the responsibility of Doctor Arnott by Hudson Lowe, governor of the island. It was decided to take the facial impression before the autopsy, but the operation could not be done without a plaster cast. Despite Countess Bertrand's desire to obtain an impression, Antommarchi's attempts to make plaster from statuettes were unsuccessful. Doctor Burton knowing the region, and on the permission of the governor then went to the islet near George-Island where he knew of the existence of a deposit of gypsum of which he obtained a sufficient quantity for the manufacture of the necessary plaster. for the full head impression.
On May 7 at 4:00 p.m., the impression was taken by Burton with the help of Antommarchi. But the emperor's face, which according to witnesses had retained a youthful character on the morning of May 6, sagged and distorted the following day as a result of the decomposition process. Helped by Longwood's servants, including the Vaudois Abram Noverraz who prepared the body, Burton made the two prints: one from the face and one from the back of the skull. From the much smaller facial print, Burton was able to make a facial bust. But the cranial impression, much larger, took longer to dry, and it was decided by mutual agreement that the work of making a full bust would rather be done in Europe, given the poor quality of the plaster. and its lack of a sufficient quantity. Countess Bertrand was anxious to keep the facial bust at home, and, in good faith, Burton agreed. But, his idea was rather to pack it in his luggage in order to have the complete bust made by the famous sculptor Canova. Antommarchi was to give him this relic, and the cranial imprint, when he returned to Italy. Despite the protests of the British doctor, the bust was not returned2 and Burton, annoyed, destroyed the skull impression.