A colour print of Napoleon Bonaparte, mounted on a horse. The son of an attorney, Napoleon had risen in the ranks of the French army through skill and perseverance. Capitalising on the turmoil following the French Revolution, and regarded as a hero after a series of military victories, Napoleon seized power in France in 1799. He ruled France as First Consul, then Emperor, and was regarded with justified suspicion by other European rulers who were nervous of his expansionist ambitions. This print shows Napoleon in 1802, after negotiating the treaty of Amiens, which concluded a temporary peace between Britain and France in 1802. The peace was short-lived: by 1803, the two countries were again at war.