section_path: Appearance and image
section_name: Appearance and image
paragraph_text: Appearance and image
  
  Many of those who met Napoleon were surprised by his unremarkable physical appearance in contrast to his significant deeds and reputation. In his youth he was consistently described as small and thin. English painter Joseph Farington, who met him in 1802, said "Samuel Rogers stood a little way from me and... seemed to be disappointed in the look of countenance and said it was that of a little Italian." Farington said Napoleon's eyes were "lighter, and more of a grey, than I should have expected from his complexion", that "his person is below middle size", and that "his general aspect was milder than I had before thought it."
  
  A friend who first met him as a young man said Napoleon was only notable "for the dark color of his complexion... for his piercing and scrutinising glance, and for the style of his conversation". He also said that Napoleon was serious and sombre. Johann Ludwig Wurstemberger, who accompanied Napoleon in 1797 and 1798, noted that "Bonaparte was rather slight and emaciated-looking; his face, too, was very thin, with a dark complexion... his black, unpowdered hair hung down evenly over both shoulders", but that, despite his slight and unkempt appearance, "his looks and expression were earnest and powerful."
  
  Denis Davydov considered him average in appearance:
  
  His face was slightly swarthy, with regular features. His nose was not very large, but straight, with a slight, hardly noticeable bend. The hair on his head was dark reddish-blond; his eyebrows and eyelashes were much darker than the colour of his hair, and his blue eyes, set off by the almost black lashes, gave him a most pleasing expression... The man I saw was of short stature, just over five feet tall, rather heavy although he was only 37 years old.
  
  During the Napoleonic Wars, the British press depicted Napoleon as a dangerous tyrant, poised to invade. A nursery rhyme warned children that he ate naughty people; the " bogeyman ". He was mocked as a short-tempered small man and was nicknamed "Little Boney in a strong fit". In fact, at about 170 cm (5 ft 7 in), he was of average height.
  
  In his later years Napoleon gained weight and had a sallow complexion. Novelist Paul de Kock, who saw him in 1811, called Napoleon "yellow, obese, and bloated". A British captain who met him in 1815 stated "I felt very much disappointed, as I believe everyone else did, in his appearance... He is fat, rather what we call pot-bellied, and although his leg is well shaped, it is rather clumsy... He is very sallow, with light grey eyes, and rather thin, greasy-looking brown hair, and altogether a very nasty, priestlike-looking fellow."
  
  He is often portrayed wearing a large bicorne hat—sideways—with a hand-in-waistcoat gesture—a reference to the painting produced in 1812 by Jacques-Louis David.