Napoleon, the Emperor of France from 1804–1815, was one of the most notorious of Britain's political enemies. Haydon greatly admired the French leader and he painted dozens of pictures of him, bought his death-mask and even tried on his hat which, according to him, fitted exactly. His first Napoleon picture was painted for Thomas Kearsey in 1829 and was exhibited at the Western Exchange in 1830 as Napoleon Musing After Sunset. Haydon would eventually paint twenty-three versions and replicas of this popular work. A whole-length version entitled Napoleon Musing at St Helena was commissioned by Sir Robert Peel. In 1831, a year of great civil unrest in Britain, William Wordsworth wrote to Haydon of this work, 'If I can command my thoughts I will write something about your Picture, in prose for the Muse has forsaken me – being scared away by the villainous aspect of the Times'.