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A full-length portrait slightly facing left, of Napoleon in the uniform of the Chasseurs. He stands at the gangway of the 'Bellerophon', 74 guns, his right elbow leaning on the bulwarks. Behind Napoleon to the right, head turned away to the left and partly bald, stands Général Comte Bertrand. Behind him to the left is the head and shoulders, full face, of Captain Piontowski wearing the uniform of the Polish Guard, formerly part of Napoleon's personal troops. A British marine in profile to the left stands in front of Bertrand and to the right of Napoleon, while below him in a blue-and-white striped pullover is a sailor looking up at him. Napoleon dominates the picture as he looks beyond the viewer in the direction of the onlookers. His right elbow leans immediately below a Union flag underscoring British victory and his defeat. The mainmast of the ship looms large behind him to the left, with rigging beyond. The sailor looking up at him from the gang-way accentuates the vertical thrust of the image, emphasised too by the height of the marine's rifle to the right. The sailor holds a rope in his right hand, similar to the rope draped over the side of the ship to the right. Both these humble players in the scene serve as Napoleon's guard but in positions also indicating respect to the fallen hero. A hammock with a sailor's watch number is lashed inboard against the side of the ship.