A preparatory modello for the larger painting of 1802, acquired in 1983 by the Musée d'Amiens, an oil sketch for which is in the Musée de Bernay (fig. 1), M. Sandoz, Antoine-François Callet (1741-1823), Paris, 1985, no. 75, pl. XI. All of these are related to a competition organised by the consular administration, one of only two arranged by Napoleon, the other in 1807 to celebrate the Battle of Eylau. The subject of the competition was a choice between either a work celebrating the Re-establishment of the Church in France, or the Peace of Amiens. Many painters participated in the competition and most of them chose the first subject, but no paintings were subsequently commissioned. The works were exhibited at the Grand Salon, now the Salon Carré, of the Louvre between the 6 December 1802 and 15 January 1803. Prizes were distributed to reward the best entries, and Callet was awarded 1000 francs for the sketch, now at Bernay, G. and C. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Concours de 1802, in Hommage à René Jullian in Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, 1977.
The present drawing is probably a first idea for the Bernay sketch. The most important difference between the two compositions is that the figure of Bonaparte in this drawing is replaced in the painting by a group of women throwing flowers, thus removing all reference to any precise political context and making it purely allegorical.
The Concordat, signed on 15 July 1801, re-established Catholicism as the official state religion of France. Although opposition was fierce, the first consul Bonaparte forced it into law on the 8 April 1802. A Te Deum was performed on Easter day of the same year to commemorate the event. The present drawing illustrates Bonaparte's entry into Notre Dame for the service of celebration