Théodore Chassériau (Sainte-Barbe-de-Samana 1819-1856 Paris)

Méneval (1778-1850) served as secretary to Joseph Bonaparte in the 1790s, before his appointment in 1802 as secretary to Napoleon, then First Consul. As a reward for his services, Napoleon made Méneval a baron in 1810. After the fall of Napoleon, Méneval wrote several memoirs about his time in government. Napoleon bequeathed 100,000 francs to his secretary upon his death in 1821.
Chassériau's drawing is most likely connected with a posthumous painted portrait commissioned by the baron's children and completed in 1853 (M. Sandoz, Théodore Chassériau (1819-1856): catalogue raisonné des peintures et estampes, Paris, 1974, pp.364-65, no. 225, pl. CXC). The painting includes a bust of Napoleon to the right of Méneval. Sandoz notes two other drawings related to the painting, a study for the head of Méneval now in the Château of Malmaison, and a sketch of the bust of Napoleon in the Louvre (Inv. 25048).