Ship model LE CANOT IMPERIAL

The barge of Napoleon - a wooden ship well preserved still today

The French barge LE CANOT IMPERIAL was built in 1811 for Napoleon's inspection of the fortifications of Antwerp. This barge, which is 17.21 m long and 3.35 m wide, was built in only 21 days, including all the decorations. A large team of carpenters and sculptors worked day and night. The magnificent sculptor work was done by van Petersen. On the bow Neptune rode a dolphin, with crown and trident. He is accompanied on each side by winged tritons, each followed by a dolphin. Neptune resembled here rather a young hero than an old sea god.

Napoleon used this pretty small boat only once, on the occasion of his visit to Antwerp. Afterwards the barge came to Brest, where it was used also only rarely, actually only at festive opportunities like the visit of Napoleon III 1858 and the visit of the president of the republic 1903. Today the ship is on display in the entrance hall of the Musée de la Marine in Paris. Here are some photos of the barge in the Musée de la Marine in Paris.

The model boat LE CANOT IMPERIAL, photos, description and dimensions

Please take your time to have a good look at the set of photos. There are several views of the barge model. If you click on a photo you will get that photo in high resolution. Only these high resolution photographs show how much work and handicraft ability were put in the model. (If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, press F11 to minimize navigation bars and have a larger screen with the photos.)

This beautiful model of the LE CANOT IMPERIAL is a masterpiece. Length is 160 cm, width 44 cm, height 72 cm, including the board stand. Length without board is 152 cm, width 30 cm.

This model is no longer for sale. The pictures and the data are shown in the gallery of the ship models sold only to let enthusiasts and model makers enjoy the photos and maybe get ideas or some guidance, if someone builds such a model by himself.