The Clemency of Napoleon
The Clemency of Napoleon is an 1806 history painting by the French artist Marguerite Gérard. It depicts a scene from the Napoleonic Wars. At the time of the Fall of Berlin in the aftermath of the crushing Prussian defeat at Battle of Jena, an officer of the Prussian Army was arrested in the city as a spy accused of recording French troop numbers. The painting shows the moment when his heavily pregnant wife Princess Hatzfeld successfully implored the French Emperor to spare her husband's life.
The sister-in-law and protégé of Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Gérard was one of the most prominent female artists of the Napoleonic era enjoying success with her portraitss and genre paintings. This work was Gérard's only major history painting and was purchased by the Emperor. It was exhibited at the Salon of 1808 at the Louvre in Paris. It was acquired by the French state in 1992 and allocated to Château de Malmaison, a former residence of Napoleon.