ABSTRACT
Napoleon cast a long shadow over nineteenth century Europe. Long after the din of the battlefield had quieted and many of his political accomplishments had faded, the sheer stature of Napoleon’s character left an indelible mark on the minds of many. Bonaparte was greatly admired by artists, writers, musicians, politicians, soldiers, and many others for a number of different reasons. Napoleon is as much an artist—and thus as highly valorized — as sculptors, musicians, painters, and writers. Friedrich Nietzsche’s description of him as “artist of government” is not isolated. In another passage, Nietzsche uses an explicitly artistic metaphor when he claims that Bonaparte “brought back again a whole slab of antiquity, perhaps even the decisive piece, the piece of granite”. Nietzsche is sometimes accused of hero worship when it comes to individuals like Napoleon. It seems that the German philosopher is simply enthralled with the French emperor, overwhelmed by the latter’s success.
