#Mathilde Bonaparte

[empirearchives]

So the historian Hippolyte Taine did not like Napoleon’s mother:

“His mother, Laetitia Ramolini, from whom, in character and in will, he derived much more than from his father, is a primitive soul on which Civilization has taken no hold. She is simple, all of a piece, unsuited to the refinements, charms, and graces of a worldly life; indifferent to comforts, without literary culture, as parsimonious as any peasant woman, but as energetic as the leader of a band.”

According to Patrice Gueniffey, he also called her “slovenly”, which pissed off one of Napoleon’s nieces, Mathilde, who banned him from her literary salon because he randomly insulted her dead grandmother.

[abwwia]

Mathilde Laetitia Wilhelmine Bonaparte, Princesse Française, Princess of San Donato (27 May 1820 – 2 January 1904), was a French princess and salonnière. via Wikipedia La Princesse Mathilde avec une palette de peintre à la main, by Adolphe Dallemagne, print on albumin paper, 22.7 x 16.2 cm, © Beaux-Arts de Paris

[diioonysus]

fans + art

[nesiacha]

Revolutionaries with a Hard Fate after the end of the revolution

Gâteau, Saint-Just's friend, whose loss he never recovered from. He died in despair in 1815 during the Bourbon Restoration.

Marie Angélique Lequesne, widow of Ronsin, later divorced Turreau, who was also active in the revolution. She had a terrible marriage with him (Turreau betrayed the Ronsin couple twice, once while Ronsin was alive, pretending to be his friend and stabbed him in the back when Ronsin needed supportwhile he was being attacked as one of the representatives of the Hébertist faction during the period of the factional infighting. The second time by horribly mistreating Marie-Angélique after that he married her , even having her whipped). You will see in the links I’m sending. She also lost a son during her lifetime. It’s possible Turreau separated her from her sons’ custody. In fact, to punish her for their separation, he made her live in poverty during three years and she had to seek help from a judge to return to France. It’s likely that this poverty lasted until the end of her life, as her daughter, Alexandrine, died in misery and poverty (Alexandrine, who was also a victim of her father Turreau). Here are the posts: Letter from Turreau to Ronsin and the Complex and The Day a Judge Confronted Turreau for His Actions

Marie-Anne Babeuf, widow of Gracchus Babeuf, who had been her husband’s right hand. Before the revolution, she had already lost a daughter due to a boiling water accident. Gracchus never recovered from this loss. Then, under the Directory, their other daughter, Sophie, died of malnutrition caused by the high prices of rations (Gracchus wrote a letter of despair in prison, saying that people like Boissy d'Anglas had condemned his daughter: "I had a seven-year-old daughter; I soon received the heartbreaking news that she died from the murderous reduction of the two ounces of bread."). She was pregnant when her husband was arrested, and she walked miles with her son Emile to try to save him. She may have even tried to help him escape, according to certain letters. She continued to fight after her husband's execution and was repeatedly arrested by the police. But her son Camille went mad and committed suicide. As for her other son, Caius, he died in Vendôme during the foreign invasion of France at the age of 17. It’s possible that she even outlived her last son, Emile, as, despite being known as a militant with a strong character in adversity, and being arrested by the police under the Directory and Bonaparte, her death date is unknown. Some say she was still alive when her last son, Emile, died. She also saw many of her friends die under the mockery of justice, including Topino-Lebrun, executed under Bonaparte (see Topino Lebrun: A Revolutionary Jacobin Close to Gracchus Babeuf) or her friend René Vatar, who died in deportation (he had campaigned for her release when she was imprisoned).

Claude-Antoine Prieur, who lived his last years very painfully. He lost his beloved daughter and granddaughter. His friend Lazare Carnot died in exile, and Prieur’s friends Frilley and Monnet did not return his friendship. See the very good post ( and sad ) post by @aedesluminis on Prieur’s tragic end: https://www.tumblr.com/aedesluminis/758618574216724480/nigrit-i-dont-think-she-cared-much-about-the?source=share

Jean-Nicolas Pache. He withdrew from political life. He was close to his children, especially Sylvie Audouin (according to Mathilde Larrère, she was a fervent Hébertist and therefore supported her father ideas). He survived his daughter, who often visited him, while watching everything he had worked for collapse. I already talked about Sylvie here quickly here and her role during the revolution and the Directory with her husband Xavier Audouin ( https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/767044131014033408/very-mediocre-and-horrible-quote-from-buzot?source=share) . I really have to do a post about pache one day btw

Prieur de la Marne, who died in exile so poor that there was not enough money for his funeral.

Feel free to add because I know I've overlooked many and they all deserve more information

P.S: I hesitated to put Sophie Momoro in it after everything that happened in her life afterwards but if she died in poverty and had a failed marriage at least she was able to have her 3 children and her husband was not like Turreau ( here about some of the life of Sophie Momoro https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/758994396416016384/life-and-fate-of-sophie-momoro-n%C3%A9e-fournier-and?source=share). But she still have a sad end.

Sources:

Antoine Resche

Jean-Marc Schiappa

Claude Mazauric

Bloche

Mathilde Larrère

[duchesssoflennox]

Is there any royal family that you dislike you can name more than 1 ;)

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich's family 😒

Of all the royals I've ever known, grand duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (paternal uncle of Tsar Nicholas II) and his family have always been my least favorite.☹️

They are my least favorite for the following reasons:

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna were hostile and disloyal to Emperor Nicholas II, who was Vladimir's nephew and Maria's cousin. They held a rival court at their palace in Saint Petersburg and spread malicious gossip about the Emperor and his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

Maria Pavlovna was ambitious and greedy, and used her influence to obtain money, jewels, and estates from the Tsar and other wealthy people. She also exploited her position as the president of the Russian Red Cross to embezzle funds and supplies for her personal use

She was arrogant and snobbish, and looked down on other members of the Imperial Family, especially those who married below their rank or were not of Russian origin. She also despised the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, whom she considered a German spy and a bad influence on the Tsar

Kirill Vladimirovich, son of Vladimir Alexandrovich and Maria Pavlovna, is best known for his scandalous affair with his married first cousin, Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh.

Kirill and Victoria Melita got married years later, after Victoria Melita divorced her first husband. Their marriage was considered incestuous and morganatic by the Russian Orthodox Church and the Imperial Family, and caused a scandal in the Royal Courts of Europe and Great Britain

Kirill betrayed Emperor Nicholas II during the February Revolution of 1917, when he marched to the Tauride Palace wearing a red armband to show his support for the Provisional Government. He also renounced his rights to the Russian throne in 1917, but later claimed them back in 1924, proclaiming himself as the head of the House of Romanov and the rightful heir to the throne, despite the existence of other senior claimants.

Boris Vladimirovich is known for his scandalous affair with his married first cousin Queen Marie of Romania! Boris Vladimirovich was a notorious playboy and gambler, who spent lavishly on women, cars, and parties. He had numerous affairs and illegitimate children, and was involved in several scandals with actresses, dancers, and socialites. He was disloyal to his cousin, Emperor Nicholas II, and supported the February Revolution of 1917 that overthrew the monarchy. He also collaborated with the Bolsheviks and accepted their protection after the October Revolution, while most of his relatives fled or were killed. He was selfish and greedy, and used his influence to obtain money, jewels, and property from the Soviet government. He also sold some of his family's treasures and artworks to foreign collectors and museums.

Elena Vladimirovna was considered snobbish and vain by some people, including her mother's social rival, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. She also allegedly refused to greet her sister-in-law Princess Marie Bonaparte and drew back her skirts as if not to be touched by her...

Andrei Vladimirovich had an affair with the famous ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska, who was also the former mistress of Nicholas II and two other grand dukes. He married her in 1921 and recognized her son as his, even though the boy's paternity was uncertain.

Thanks for Asking 🥰🫶

[marzipanandminutiae]

Have you ever read "a study of dolls" published in 1897? I found some pages you might find interesting. you can find the book for free on google (askbox character limit :() pg43 acknowledges there were adult women who played with dolls in the 19th century. pg49 has an interesting passage about boys & dolls. mostly that they should be allowed to play with dolls & that it outweighs the risk of making "boy milliners". is "boy milliners" a euphemism for gay? maybe more like "sissy"?

pg 43 "Girls often play with dolls regularly until 13 or 14, when, with the dawn of adolescence, the doll passion generally abates. It is then realized more distinctly than before that dolls have absolutely no inner life or feeling. Some girls play with dolls with great pleasure, but secretly, till well on in the teens and often in the twenties, and occasionally married women, generally those without children, or single women, play with dolls all their lives." trying to send the quotes from 1897 page 49 "That boys are naturally fond of and should play with dolls as well as girls there is abundant indication. One boy in a family of girls, or boys who are only children, often play with dolls to seven or eight years of age. It is unfortunate that this is considered so predominantly a girl's play. Most boys abandon it early or never play, partly because it is thought girlish by adults as well as by children. (1/2) Of course, boy life is naturally rougher and demands a wider range of activities. The danger, too, of making boy milliners is of course obvious, but we are convinced that on the whole more play with girl dolls by boys would tend to make them more sympathetic with girls as children, if not more tender with their wives and with women later. Again, boys, as well as girls, might be encouraged to play with boy dolls more than at present, with great advantage to both." (2/2)

I have not read that, but it sounds fascinating! Information about adult doll collectors in the 19th century is scarce, though one hears tantalizing tidbits here and there- Napoleon Bonaparte's niece Mathilde is rumored to have been one, for example. Once it goes mainstream in the 1920s with boudoir dolls, though, we get psychologists insisting that it's a "freak" of "abnormal women" who need to have children instead (because of course, dolls are just Child Replacements). It was ever thus.

I HAVE heard accounts of little boys playing with dolls back then, though! mostly dolls representing boys, thought not always. It seems to have been somewhat more normalized than it is now- not entirely, however, as those quotes indicate. I don't know the specific euphemism "boy milliners," but I would hazard a guess that homophobia is indeed what it indicates, since millinery was a very feminine-coded occupation.

This is an amazing resource! Thank you so much for sharing.

[royalty-nobility]

Madame Mère (Maria Laetitia Ramolino Bonaparte, 1750 - 1836)

Artist: François Pascal Simon Gérard (French, 1770 - 1837)

Date: 1802-1803

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburg, Scotland

Description

This stately full-length portrait of Napoleon's mother, known as Madame Mère, shows her sumptuously dressed and seated in a grand apartment with a view overlooking the Tuileries in Paris. She came from a Tuscan family and was born in Corsica. A sculpted bust of her son as consul, close in type to one carved by Louis-Simon Boizot in 1800, confirms her status. Napoleon was the second eldest of her thirteen children, eight of whom survived. The portrait was taken to Italy by her granddaughter, Mathilde, Napoleon's niece, when she married into the wealthy Florentine Demidoff family.

[artemlegere]

The Empress Eugénie, Wearing the Sash of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa 

(Eugénie de Montijo, 1826–1920, Condesa de Teba)

Artist: Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1871)

Date: 1854

Media: Oil on Canvas

Musée d’Orsay

Eugénie de Montijo (1826-1920) Empress of the French

Eugénie de Montijo (1826-1920) was the youngest daughter of the Count of Teba and niece of the Count of Montijo, whose name her father obtained and by which she is improperly known today. After her marriage to Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, she became Empress of the French until 1873.

Her father supported the French during the Napoleonic Wars and as such was an afrancesado. Afrancesado was the name given to people who had collaborated with the French authorities during the occupation of Spain by Napoleon’s armies (1808-1814), unwelcome among the Spanish people and whose family was forced to seek refuge in Paris in 1834 at the time of the Carlist Wars. Eugénie received most of her education here, surrounded by an enlightened society influenced notably by Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870) a French writer, historian and archaeologist..

Empress of the French Until the Fall of the French Second Empire

In 1849 she made the acquaintance of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, President of the Republic, at the residence of his cousin Princess Mathilde. Princess Mathilde (1820-1904) was the cousin of Louis-Napoleon, and was initially engaged to the latter before marrying Anatole Demidoff, Prince of San Donato, from whom she was authorised to separate in 1847... Seduced by her beauty and personality, he diligently courted her before asking for her hand in 1853, when he had become Emperor of the French. The wedding was held in the Tuileries and Notre-Dame de Paris on 29 and 30 January 1853, and the Empress became the hostess and finest ornament of a particularly brilliant Imperial Court. In 1856 their only son was born, Louis-NapoleonLouis-Napoleon Bonaparte (1856 - 1879) received a military education from a young age. After the Commune, he was exiled to England with the Imperial family., who was given the title Prince Imperial (1856-1879).

After the fall of the Empire in 1870 and the death of Napoleon III in 1873, the Empress was sent into a long exile spent between England, Spain and southern France.

[archduchessofnowhere]

Was Maximilian de Beauharnais, younger son of Eugène de Beauharnais and Princess Augusta of Bavaria, ever have any other potential bridal prospects (maybe ones of the same religion as him?) before he wed or was the first and only Grand Duchess Maria?

Hi anon! I don't know the answer to this so I'm going to redirect you to @josefavomjaaga, the President of information about Eugène and his family on Tumblr, whom perhaps does know. I only know that Auguste opposed to the marriage because she didn't want her son to become Russian, and also that years before she had wanted her eldest son August to marry Mathilde Bonaparte, but I don't know if she had something similar in mind for Maximilian.

[microcosme11]

Mathilde Bonaparte by Ary Scheffer, 1844.

Princess Mathilde was Jerome's daughter and she lived until 1904!

wikimedia commons

[empirearchives]

Victor Hugo’s speech in support of Napoleon, and his support to lift the ban on the Bonaparte family

(Left: Victor Hugo, Right: Elderly Jérôme Bonaparte)

Excerpt from Jonathan Beecher, Writers and Revolution: Intellectuals and the French Revolution of 1848

—————-

Hugo was fascinated by the Praslin affair and wrote about it at length in his journals. But he was more deeply engaged by another issue brought to the Chamber of Peers in June, 1847 – the petition of Napoleon’s only surviving brother, Jérôme Bonaparte, who sought the repeal of the law exiling members of the Bonaparte family. “I declare without hesitation,” Hugo told the peers. “I am on the side of exiles and proscrits.”

Не obviously could not know that he himself was to spend almost two decades in exile. But one exile who mattered to Hugo in 1847 was the first Napoleon. In his speech to the Chamber of Peers Hugo contrasted the pettiness and corruption of the July Monarchy with the grandeur of Napoleon’s Empire:

As for me, in witnessing the collapse of conscience, the reign of money, the spread of corruption, the taking of the highest places by people with the lowest passions, (Prolonged reaction) in witnessing the woes of the present time, I dream of the great deeds of the past, and I am now and then tempted to say to the Chamber, to the press, to all of France: “Wait, let us talk a little of the Emperor. That will do us good!” (Intense and profound agreement).

After this speech, the elderly Jérôme Bonaparte personally thanked Hugo; and his daughter, the Princess Mathilde, invited him to dinner. Hugo was now regarded in some quarters as a Bonapartist.

—————-

[Italics in original]

“La Famille Bonaparte,” OC Politique, Laffont, 138-139.

[thebeautycove]

RANCÉ 1795 - MATHILDE - Collection Impériale - Eau de Parfum - Novità 2023 -

Eleganza e gentilezza d’altri tempi definita da un linguaggio olfattivo contemporaneo, ecco Mathilde, la nuova creazione di Maison Rancé 1795 per la Collection Impériale.

La fragranza è ispirata a Mathilde Bonaparte, nipote di Napoleone I, donna di carattere, amante delle arti, mecenate di artisti e letterati nella Parigi del XIX secolo.

Raffinato il ritratto odoroso che scaturisce da emblematici accordi floreali fruttati, narciso, iris, mughetto, gelsomino, rosa, vibrano nella sfumatura esotica di papaya e passion fruit e si impongono al desiderio e al ricordo nell’armonia finale di vaniglia, legno di sandalo, muschio.

Eau de Parfum 50 e 100 ml. Online qui

©thebeautycove @igbeautycove

[abwwia]

Ida Botti Scifoni ( Rome 1812 - Florence 1844)

Self-portrait, 1839
Oil on canvas
Inventory 1890 n. 1938

The Roman painter Ida Botti Scifoni portrays herself in a three-quarter view, while she turns towards the spectator, her gaze languid and deep, the sweet and reassuring expression underlined by her brown hair combed according to the fashion of the moment, with a central parting, a braid wrapped around the nape of the neck and cascades of ringlets framing her face with its delicate features. The austere, unadorned clothing is embellished by the large shawl with white, red and green flowers and stripes, as if suggesting the colours of the future Italian flag. Source: Uffizi Gallery

#bornOnThisDay Ida Botti Scifoni (Rome, 7 November 1812 - Florence, 13 June 1844) was an Italian painter, sculptor and designer. She was married to Felice Scifoni, and was a teacher and friend of Mathilde Bonaparte, Napoleon’s niece. Via Wikipedia

[nesiacha]

Very mediocre (and horrible) quote from Buzot about Pache , his family and especially some reflections of Pache's friendships and family

Here is what I found on a website in Buzot's memoirs that, for his honor, I hope he did not actually say. Warning: misogynistic language ahead that may make your eyes bleed:

"Pache's children, his daughters, ran like madmen to the places where murder and pillage were preached with the most impudence, and they were often seen in so-called fraternal embraces, warming themselves up for the disgusting orgies."

Anyway, let's move on from this point. Pache only had one daughter, Sylvie, but perhaps Buzot mentioned a stepdaughter. In any case, Sylvie was only 16 at the time of these events, so the insult is all the more serious (according to Mathilde Larrère, Sylvie Audouin was a fervent young Hébertist, born a year after Louise Gely, and we can say that she was an ultra-revolutionary, a sort of reverse Louise Gely which Danton had to marry her through a refractory priest) . Treating an adult this way is insulting even more so when it's a teenager who will have an even harder time taking this insult. We also know that she married François Xavier Audouin, an important Jacobin and Hébertist (with Santerre and Hébert as witnesses, it seems) who worked at the Ministry of War. She was only 16 when she married. It seems Sylvie may have suffered from xenophobia, like her father, because he was Swiss, and he often took his children there before 1792 (or was it 1789? I can't remember). Louis de Launay, in Monge's biography, mentions that she argued violently about the execution of the Hébertists with Carnot and Prieur Claude-Antoine in Monge's salon, but honestly, there is no proof of this. It’s more likely that the arrest of Pache and François Xavier Audouin was entirely political (Frankly, settling scores over a dispute by having people arrested was not in the style of the Committee of Public Safety or the Convention). One day, I should tell the story of Pache and his childrens. It would also be interesting to explore the Pache-Monge-Carnot friendship triangle that I’ve read about in some biographies. Or Audouin-Monge-Bonaparte (maybe that's why François Xavier Audouin, one of the "star" opponents of the Directory and Sieyès, was able to escape the deportation of the Jacobins, or why Bonaparte wanted Pache’s cooperation in vain because Audouin was initially on the deportation list ). I wonder if Sylvie was arrested by Bonaparte's police, like Marie-Anne Babeuf temporarily, Simone Evrard, or Albertine Marat, or if she was “only” monitored like the other wives of the Jacobins (for example Mrs. Dufour) . In any case, this would mark the end of Audouin's political career. He became a royalist in 1816, probably due to the oppressive laws, even though he did not renounce his revolutionary friendships like Pache did. I wonder if Sylvie's death four years later was linked to this disillusionment. The hardships she endured, the execution of the Hébertists, then the arrest of her father and her husband, the fact that her father was apparently persecuted by muscadins, the fights that her husband (and surely she was since Mathilde Larrère said that she was a fervent Hébertist) against the Directory, the fact that her husband narrowly escaped deportation (and possibly death) under Bonaparte, possibly having seen Jacobin friends deported or executed, having retired from political life, seeing her brother rally to Bonaparte, the restoration of the Bourbons and finally that her fervent Hébertist and Jacobin husband converted to royalism (due to the pressure of the laws of 1816) did not precipitate her into her grave by disappointments (it is possible that she simply died of illness or she approved the choice of her husband). For the moment I have difficulty getting more information on the Audouin couple. Too bad because historian Bernard Gainot claims that just like Victor Bach, Antonelle, Felix Le Peletier, René Vatar, the Babeuf couple, Jorry (maybe even Rossignol), Buonarotti, Topino-Lebrun, ,Bernard Metge they were the best known in the period of the neo-Jacobins against the Directory , Sieyes and until 1802, the date of the end of the political career of Xavier-François Audouin (plus historians like Mathilde Larrère concerning at least Sylvie Audouin despite her young age at the time and Bloche say that they were also well known during the French Revolution).

To summarize, I’d like to explore the Pache-Monge-Carnot friendship triangle, considering that Pache and Carnot did not get along at all from what I understand (and this doesn't surprise me; Pache was somewhat close to the Hébertists even if he did not take part in the insurrection, called for calm and did not testify in favor of Momoro, Hébert, Vincet, Ronsin and Chaumette , while Carnot was not at all close to the hébertists ,was opposed to them and vice versa ). And one day, I should write a post about Pache.

[corbenic]

Top fav royals with blue eyes

1. Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie

2. Queen Mathilde

3. Princess Grace (née Grace Kelly)

4. Prince William

5. Napoleon Bonaparte

[fashionluxuryinfo]

Dal 15 marzo in mostra al Museo Napoleonico Giuseppe Primoli e il fascino dell’Oriente

Fino all’8 settembre 2024 in esposizione quattordici kakemono, rotoli dipinti della tradizione giapponese, il ventaglio japonais di Mathilde Bonaparte dipinto da De Nittis e altri preziosi oggetti della collezione “orientale” del conte Primoli, fotografo, eclettico e colto discendente del “ramo romano” dei Bonaparte

Il Museo Napoleonico ospita dal 15 marzo un’esposizione dedicata al collezionismo di arte orientale e giapponese: Giuseppe Primoli e il fascino dell’Oriente, in concomitanza con la mostra Ukiyoe. Il mondo fluttuante. Visioni dal Giappone in corso al Museo di Roma a Palazzo Braschi.