Why do Napoleon’s portraits often show him with one hand inside his waistcoat?

The distinctive pose is a feature on numerous portraits of the French emperor in various settings, whether posing with quiet dignity in his study or depicted on the retreat from his disastrous Russian campaign. There are various claims, based on no evidence, that this was because of some problem that Napoleon experienced: that he hid his hand because it had been deformed in battle; or that he was constantly pressing on his stomach to alleviate his chronic pain.

The truth behind the “Napoleon look” has little to do with Napoleon, and much more to do with the conventions of portraiture in the 18th and 19th centuries. Concealing a hand in a shirt or waistcoat became a common pose in paintings as a symbol of statesmanlike nobility and restraint. According to François Nivelon’s 1737 manual on etiquette, “The Rudiments of Genteel Behaviour,” the pose symbolised “manly boldness tempered with modesty.” That idea may go back as far as ancient Greece, when eminent orator Aeschines declared that speaking with an arm inside one’s cloak was a sign of modesty.

Napoleon did not choose the look. In fact, he did not even sit for what is now the most famous depiction of him, Jacques-Louis David’s 1812 painting of the emperor in his study. But when he saw that work, Napoleon reportedly declared, “You have understood me, my dear David,” and the hand-in-waistcoat trope became associated with him ever afterwards.