Steve Bannon as Napoleon: Trump strategist 'given portrait by Nigel Farage' | US news
Steve Bannon, the White House chief strategist, owns an oil painting of himself dressed as Napoleon Bonaparte â" and it was given to him by Nigel Farage, it has emerged.
The peculiar revelation, published in New York magazine, comes from an upcoming book on the former Breitbart News headâs political rise and his at-times fractious relationship with Donald Trump.
According to the author Joshua Green, the painting replicates the famous portrait of Napoleon in his study at the Tuileries palace, but with Bannon in place of the emperor.
While no images of Bannonâs version have yet been made public, speculative Twitter users have had fun photoshopping the White House adviserâs head on to the body of the 19th century French ruler.
The original neoclassical painting of 1812 by Jacques-Louis David shows Napoleon in the full uniform of a French imperial colonel, with one hand tucked into his jacket.
Many users drew unflattering comparisons to Napoleonâs military ordeals in Russia, while Green wrote that the portrait was a symbol of Bannonâs ego and âhealthy self-regardâ that endeared him to Trump.
Some suggested that the portrait might not in fact feature the French military hero, but the nerd icon Napoleon Dynamite.
Trump and Bannon first met in 2010, when the billionaire was still mulling a presidential run. Both men have also kept close ties to the former Ukip leader Farage, including a November 2016 meeting at Trump Tower catalogued in an infamous gold-suffused photo.
But in recent times commentators have said Bannon was falling out of the presidentâs favour amid a power struggle with Trumpâs senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Davidâs original portrait is on display in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, while a second version is in Versailles. It is unclear where Bannonâs pastiche is installed.
According to the National Gallery, Napoleonâs dishevelled appearance in the painting is meant to convey that he has âspent the night in his study composing the Napoleonic Codeâ.
Commissioned in 1811 by the Duke of Hamilton, Davidâs painting was finished in the year of Napoleonâs ill-fated invasion of Russia. Two years after its completion the emperor was exiled to the island of Elba.
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