Portrait of Napoleon as First Consul, 1804, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres © Collection: Musée d'Art moderne et d'Art contemporain de la Ville de LiègeNapoleon nearly became a sailor. His family sought a place for him at the French Naval Academy, but the death of a sponsor and the popularity of the naval service with the aristocracy of France forced the young Bonaparte to take a place instead at a military school, specialising in artillery.