Napoleon’s Waterloo Gloves

These buckskin gloves (1815) were worn by Napoleon Bonaparte during the Battle of Waterloo, fought near Brussels on 18 June 1815. The engagement ended with Napoleon’s defeat by the allied forces under Wellington and Blücher, marking the fall of the French Empire. Donated to the Ambrosiana in 1890, the gloves embody the immediacy of an empire’s last campaign.