Portrait of Louis Bonaparte by Charles Jalabert and the helmets of French dragoons

Napoleon's younger brother, Louis Bonaparte, in the uniform of a colonel of the 5th Dragoons. Portrait by Charles Jalabert. In the French army, the helmets of dragoon officers were adorned with a turban of leopard skin. I cannot say whether this alludes to the leopard skin fastened to the saddle of Alexander the Great, but the very shape of the headgear was undoubtedly inspired by the French notion of antique helmets; it is no accident that the image of the Gorgon Medusa turned up there as well. Of course, not every officer wore a helmet with genuine leopard skin, or these animals would simply have vanished from the face of the earth long ago; many had another fur imitating the leopard's markings. The helmets of the rank and file were adorned with plain brown fur. White plumes were worn by senior officers, but from 1812 plumes for helmets were abolished, and pompons were introduced in their place for the first companies