# Napoleon Pose **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 26, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-pose/346199 "2006-02-26T18:24:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-pose/346199/1 "2006-02-26T18:24:44Z")
Why is Napoleon depicted with his hand in his shirt? I think I’ve seen pictures of others striking a similar pose. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-pose/346199/2 "2006-02-26T18:55:13Z")
It was a quite common portrait pose of the period. It lent stature and posture to the posee, and gave him something to do with his hands. Or at least one of them. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-pose/346199/3 "2006-02-26T18:57:21Z")
Note the similar pose by [The Duke of Wellington](http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/britishlibrary-store/Components/19/1906_1.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-pose/346199/4 "2006-02-26T19:09:55Z")
I reckon they were fiddling with their nipples, the dirty little munchkins. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-pose/346199/5 "2006-02-26T19:22:46Z")
Hey, you have to entertain yourself _somehow_ while they’re carving away. 😉 Yes, i’m aware he wouldn’t be there for the carving. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-pose/346199/6 "2006-02-27T14:25:27Z")
Here’s a pretty lengthy answer:[From The Napoleon Series](http://www.napoleon-series.org/index.html) It’s in the FAQ, but here’s a bit: > [@](#): > > Miller points out that the ‘hand-in’ portrait type appeared with “relentless frequency” during the eighteenth century and became almost a cliched pose in portrait painting. The pose was used so often by portraitists that one was even accused of not knowing how to paint hands. “In real life,” Miller observes, “the ‘hand-held-in’ was a common stance for men of breeding.” ---
**Author:** ![marque\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@marque\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marque_elf)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-pose/346199/7 "2006-02-27T21:29:18Z")
One answer I read in a discussion of American Civil War portraits, where the subject invariably had his hand inside his jacket/shirt, was that American artists suffered from a cultural cringe and slavishly imitated European portrait painters and their paintings of Napoleon. They didn’t know that the reason for the pose was that Napoleon suffered from ulcers and carried his hand on his stomach to alleviate the constant pain. Americans didn’t know this and painted their portraits that way because that was how it was supposed to be done. There probably is no truth to the assertions but I love the ideas that generations of portrait painters posed their subjects as they did because Napoleon had a tummy ache. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-pose/346199/8 "2006-02-27T22:18:14Z")
I always thought he had an itch. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-pose/346199/9 "2006-02-27T23:26:30Z")
Yes, the “Napoleon” pose was popular with American military officers, well past the Civil War. I have a portrait of Gen. Beauregard in this pose. The US Army though pretty higly of French militaria in that era-our soldiers wore french-style kepis, unforms, etc. We even had zouaves (those funky baggy pants and all)-all were french imports.