National Gallery of Art NGAkids David Napoleon

American 19th Century, Portrait of a Black Man, probably 1829, National Gallery of Art, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Did he not have pockets? Napoleon may have posed with his hand in this position because, before clothes had pockets, men sometimes stood this way to show that they were calm, comfortable, and relaxed. There's another portrait in the National Gallery of Art that shows a gentleman in a similar pose (although he's seated). The portrait was painted by an unknown American artist, probably around 1829.