François Carlo Antommarchi (5 July 1780 – 4 March 1838) was Napoleon's medical doctor from 1819 to his death in 1821.
He began his studies in Livorno, Italy, and later earned the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Medicine at the University of Pisa in March 1808. Antommarchi then went to Florence, Italy, and was attached to the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova. Antommarchi earned the diploma of Surgeon in 1812 from the University of Florence (i.e. Imperial University) and was appointed by its president as Prosector. While in this capacity, Antommarchi worked under Paolo Mascagni (1752–1815) starting on 7 July 1813.
Antommarchi left Florence for Saint Helena to become Napoleon I's physician until his death. Antommarchi took up this position at the behest of Napoleon's mother Maria Letizia Ramolino and his uncle Cardinal Joseph Fesch. Antommarchi received a letter of employment on 19 December 1818. Antommarchi was sent to St. Helena in replacement of Dr Barry Edward O'Meara as Napoleon's personal physician because the illustrious captive would not agree to accept medical officers such as Dr Alexander Baxter or Dr James Roch Verling, who were proposed to him by his custodian Sir Hudson Lowe.
However, Napoleon was not so impressed by Antommarchi's medical skills and even dismissed him from his service a couple of times, only to let him resume his duty soon after. In the last moments of illness, Antommarchi was assisted by Dr Archibald Arnott, who was accepted by Napoleon at the pressing demands from his two officers, Count Montholon and Grand-Marshal Bertrand.
After Napoleon's death, Antommarchi wrote The Last Moments of Napoleon where he concluded that Napoleon died of stomach cancer.
In 1831 Antommarchi went to Poland and became the general inspector of Polish hospitals during November Uprising where he assisted the Polish people in an uprising against the Russians. He fled to Paris to escape the czar's forces.
Antommarchi then immigrated to Louisiana where he donated the bronze death mask of Napoleon to the people of New Orleans in 1834. Antommarchi lived in Veracruz, Mexico, for a brief period, and was employed there as an itinerant physician. He moved from Mexico and settled in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, where he again worked as a physician and privately taught anatomy and sculpting. The move to Cuba was prompted by Antommarchi seeking his cousin Antonio Juan Benjamin Antommarchi, who made his fortune in coffee plantations. Antommarchi became adept at performing surgery for the removal of cataracts. He died in Cuba, of yellow fever, on 3 April 1838, at the age of 57.
Dissertation on cataract, 1808
This work is mentioned in The Memorial of Saint Helena by Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases.
On 7 May 1821 Antommarchi took a plaster cast of Napoleon's face. Numerous copies of this cast have been made and some can be seen at these locations:
Louisiana State Museum – The Cabildo, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Museo Napoleónico de La Habana, Habana, Cuba
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
Museo Nacional de Historia, Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City, Mexico
Musée de l'Armée, Paris, France
St. Louis Mercantile Library, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Diary of Napoleon's medical care