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This Napoleonic-era bronze group was cast in 1806 as an homage to the emperor. It was the result of a collaboration between one of the finest sculptors of the epoch, Louis-Simon Boizot, and the foremost specialist in the production of bronzes, Pierre-Philippe Thomire. Boizot had developed a speciality in furnishing models for porcelain biscuit groups at the Sèvres Manufactory. This bronze group, with its columnar figures, abutting but separated on their circular base, is similar to Sèvres productions.
The sculptor and the bronzier joined forces to produce this independent group for exhibition at the industrial exposition of 1806. The group was referred as the Battle of Austerlitz. After the fall of Napoléon the head of Napoléon (on the main figure of the group) was replaced with the head of Maréchal de Villars, hero of the battle of Denain in 1712. Thomire himself was to make the change in 1818.
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