Spot the deliberate mistake

[davywavy]

One of the things I find interesting about going abroad is the way historical events are portrayed from other perspectives. Having got most of my historical education from my dad's copy of the 1932 Empire Book for Boys, it often comes as a bit of a surprise that other peoples might not see the same people and events in the same way.

I've just got back from a few days in la Belle France (The Bell, France) where I discovered that they see the Napoleonic wars in a totally different light to the British. Take, for example, this portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte. It appears that the artist has made several elementary mistakes. Can you spot them?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Him crossing the Alps by Donkey is probably pretty close to the truth (it's before Marengo in 1800, so long before exile). The David version (rearing horse top right) must have been worth a laugh from the grognards of the Old Guard.

Yup, always a white horse - hence the D of Wellington's "I don't need a white horse to puff me b'God!" at Waterloo (there you go David, credit to Nosey where it's due).

Oddly enough, Boney always called his horses Marengo, odd 'cos he very nearly lost that one. Got saved by a suicidal charge by one of those young curly haired generals (called Desaix) who always manage to conveniently get themselves killed in the moment of victory. Thus saving Napoleon the bother of having to have him quietly offed later on by Fouche & Savary.

D