Jason with the Golden Fleece (Thorvaldsen) from the 3rd century BC depicts Jason removing the Golden Fleece from the sacred tree. Thorvaldsen's work was initially executed for the Copenhagen Academy to demonstrate his progress; a marble version was subsequently commissioned by Thomas Hope, a wealthy English art patron. When Hope's eventual heirs dispersed his collection at Deepdene, Surrey, in 1917, it was acquired by Copenhagen's Thorvaldsen Museum at auction. Considered to be Thorvaldsen's breakthrough work, the statue's theme stems from a drawing of "Jason and the Golden Fleece" by Asmus Jacob Carstens but the esthetic of the nude figure is also inspired by the Apollo Belvedere
Order of the Golden Fleece appointment in French. The controversial conferral of the Fleece on Napoleon and his brother Joseph, while Spain was occupied by French troops, angered the exiled King of France, Louis XVIII, and caused him to return his collar in protest. These, and other awards by Joseph, were revoked by King Ferdinand on the restoration of Bourbon rule in 1813. Napoleon created by Order of 15 August 1809 the Order of the Three Golden Fleeces, in view of his sovereignty over Austria, Spain and Burgundy. This was opposed by Joseph I of Spain and appointments to the new order were never made.