Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont was a French general and nobleman who rose to the rank of Marshal of the Empire and was awarded the title Duke of Ragusa. In the Peninsular War Marmont succeeded the disgraced André Masséna in the command of the French army in northern Spain, but lost decisively at the Battle of Salamanca as France ultimately lost the war in Spain.
Portrait by Andrea Appiani, 1798
Marmont as Marshal of the Empire, by Jean-Baptiste Paulin Guérin (1837)
Equestrian portrait of Marmont
Heraldic achievement of Auguste-Frédéric-Louis Viesse de Marmont, Duke of Ragusa
Marshal of the Empire was a civil dignity during the First French Empire. It was created by Sénatus-consulte on 18 May 1804 and to a large extent reinstated the formerly abolished title of Marshal of France. According to the Sénatus-consulte, a Marshal was a grand officer of the Empire, entitled to a high-standing position at the court and to the presidency of an electoral college.
Napoleon and several of his Marshals (recognisable by their white-feathered bicornes) at the Battle of Borodino in 1812. Painting by Vasily Vereshchagin
Official uniform of a Marshal of the Empire. It was designed by painter Jean-Baptiste Isabey and designer Charles Percier.
Image: Robert Lefevre 20
Image: Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, Prince de Ponte Corvo, roi de Suède, Maréchal de France (1763 1844)