Jacques-Louis David, Portrait of Napoleon in his study at the Tuileries 1812

In the course of writing my insects book, I did a lot of research on Napoleon, as so many of his French troops died from insect-vectored diseases. What a horrid little man he was.

After crowning himself Emperor in 1804, he endeavored to become Evil Mastermind of the Universe by grabbing control of India away from the British. As he knew France’s naval skills could never match up to those of Britain, he sent his extremely expendable troops overland toward India. It’s a long walk from France to India. Along the way, he figured he’d knock off Eastern Europe and Russia.

What he didn’t anticipate was that half a million of his men would die of famine, typhus, dysentery, and exposure. France’s catastrophic retreat from Russia is just one of his many charming accomplishments.

But what so many people want to know is, why did he always have his portrait painted with his hand in his shirt?

Many theories have been proposed to explain his hidden hand. He might have had a stomach ulcer, or an itchy skin condition. Perhaps he was winding his watch, or he kept a nice-smelling sachet in his vest. Or he might just have been cheap: in those days, portrait painters charged extra to paint hands. But the probable reason is simply that it was a classic way to stand when having your portrait painted, having been established long before Napoleon’s birth. Napoleon just made it his trademark.

Still, according to Georgia Bragg in her entertaining book, How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous, Napoleon ultimately died of a cancerous stomach ulcer—just beneath the spot where he always had his hand in so many of his paintings. Coïncidence?

Jacques-Louis_David Portrait of Napoleon in his study at the Tuileries 1812