DAVID AND THE CARDINAL CAPRARA.
Reading edition
David introduced the Cardinal Caprara, as the Pope’s legate, into the picture of the Coronation of Napoleon, without his wig. The likeness was exact, and the Cardinal remonstrated with David on the omission, desiring him to supply it. The painter replied that he never had, and never would paint a wig. The Cardinal then applied to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and represented that as no pope had hitherto worn a wig, it might seem as if he (Caprara) had purposely left his own off, to show his pretensions to the tiara. David however stood firm as a rock, even before Talleyrand, and said, “his Eminence may think himself lucky that nothing but his wig has been taken off.”