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For centuries, when representing the figure of the Christian God, artists borrowed from figure of the King some of the insignia of sovereignty, and conversely, for portraits of kings and emperors, they tapped the seam of the attributes of the divine. Hence, the common ground (the hieratical frontal presentation, sitting on the throne). But, there were also the limits not to be transgressed: the laurels, the ermine-lined mantle and the equestrian statue were never given to God, and certain divine markers (the cruciform nimbus or halo, the mandorla, the gesture of blessing) were never bestowed upon Kings or Emperors. François Bœspflug here uses the imagery of Napoleon as a focus for questions on the extent and limits of this sharing of the insignia of power.