Steve Bannon, the White House chief strategist, owns an oil painting of himself dressed as Napoleon Bonaparte – 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 head’s 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 Bannon’s version have yet been made public, speculative Twitter users have had fun photoshopping the White House adviser’s head on to the body of the 19th century French ruler.
Trump- Jr is in trouble & I need a distraction
— Red T Raccoon (@RedTRaccoon) July 10, 2017
Bannon- I have a painting of myself as Napoleon that you can leak
Trump- Leak? I want one! pic.twitter.com/acGrpGadrI
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 Napoleon’s military ordeals in Russia, while Green wrote that the portrait was a symbol of Bannon’s ego and “healthy self-regard” that endeared him to Trump.
Does Bannon know what happened to Napoleon in Russia? https://t.co/mxdR8LYRtf
— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) July 10, 2017
Some suggested that the portrait might not in fact feature the French military hero, but the nerd icon Napoleon Dynamite.
— not Jony Ive (@JonyIveParody) July 10, 2017
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 president’s favour amid a power struggle with Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
David’s 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 Bannon’s pastiche is installed.
According to the National Gallery, Napoleon’s dishevelled appearance in the painting is meant to convey that he has “spent the night in his study composing the Napoleonic Code”.
Commissioned in 1811 by the Duke of Hamilton, David’s painting was finished in the year of Napoleon’s ill-fated invasion of Russia. Two years after its completion the emperor was exiled to the island of Elba.
