#empress of the french

[royalty-nobility]

Portrait of Empress Josephine

Artist: Joseph Paelinck (Belgian, 1781-1839)

Date: c. 1807-1808

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museum of Fine Arts Ghent, Ghent, Belgium

Joséphine de Beauharnais

Joséphine Bonaparte (23 June 1763 – 29 May 1814) was the first wife of Emperor Napoleon I and as such Empress of the French from 18 May 1804 until their marriage was annulled on 10 January 1810. As Napoleon's consort, she was also Queen of Italy from 26 May 1805 until the 1810 annulment. She is widely known as Joséphine de Beauharnais

[tiny-librarian]

Portrait of Marie-Louise of Austria, Duchess of Parma.

[roehenstart]

The Family of Franz I of Austria. By Bernhard von Guérard.

The painting depicts Emperor Franz I. (1768-1835) with his third wife Maria Ludovica (1787-1816), who married in 1808 and their eight children: to the right, at the back seven-year-old Marie Luise (1791-1847), later Empress of the French, with her sister the seven-year-old Karolina Ferdinanda (1801-1832), later Queen of Saxony, and her brother the fifteen-year-old heir to the throne, Ferdinand (1793-1875), later Emperor Ferdinand I. To the left in the picture is seated the four-year-old Maria Anna (1804-1858), holding out her hand to her brother Franz Karl (1802-1878), who is two years older than her, and will be the father of Emperor Franz Joseph. At the back, the two girls embracing are Maria Klementina (1798-1881) at the age of ten and Leopoldine (1797-1826), later Empress of Brazil, who is a year older. On the lap of the Empress is the three-year-old Johann Nepomuk (1805-1809).

[dreamconsumer]

Eugénie, Empress of the French. By Sir William Ross.

[lurkerlaine]

[pobodleru]

Bonaparte family gardening

[classic-art-favourites]

Josephine in Coronation Costume by Francois Gerard, 1807-1808.

[occvltswim]

❝Sultane Noire (1748)❞ — Joseph-Marie Vien (French, 1716–1809)

[queenfredegund]

Women in History Month (insp) | Week 3: Consorts and concubines

[empirearchives]

Miniature watercolor portrait of Josephine Bonaparte, c. 1804-09

By Jean-Baptiste Isabey

Location: Harvard Art Museums

[ic-napology]

My favourite Naposéphine headcanon :3

Was chatting just right now with @credo--ergo-sum and suddenly remembered my main silly Naposéphine headcanon. Now I need to share it with you too.

So Napoleon gave Josephine the name she's famous with, but I headcanon that it also happened viceversa. I've always been bothered by how she called him "Bonaparte" despite them being very close. I know that it was normal back then, but it still feels odd to me, so I needed to find some other reason.

Naps dropped the U from his original surname Buonaparte around the time of their marriage. It was for pronounciation purposes, because in Italian U is pronounced "oo" like in "shampoo", while in French it's more like "ew". If you try to say this one before a straight "o", you get it, it's tricky. If you know both languages you know it's a little mess.

I keep imagining Napoleon hearing his name contantly butchered for seventeen years, even without mocking intentions. In the context of his first years in France, it must have drawn a parallel with how excluded and estranged he felt. A name represents you and the way people treat it represents how they take you and your presence. Also think about how the British made a point of calling him "BUonaparte", as a reminder of how he wasn't even French to begin with, much less deserving of being their sovereign.

The period around his marriage was crucial for Napoleon's process to belong to the French society, which the marriage itself was a huge part of. It makes sense that he took the name-changing decision now.

I headcanon that "Bonaparte" was the way Josephine personally butchered his name. Can't bother with dealing with a difficult sound, so let's drop it already - that seems typical Josephine laziness. Especially about letters you may also write ("oh non, please don't talk to me about writing...")

But Napoleon might have actually liked the sound of it. Maybe he liked it because it came from her? That's not important. He surely must have liked how it was faster to write too. He would then take inspiration from that to change his surname.

Josephine helped Napoleon when he had to enter in Parisian society and become the figure we know today as Napoleon Bonaparte. It's nice to think that his final name was her idea, not just the opposite, as in "I helped in creating you so your name will tell everyone about it".

That would mean that Josephine sticked to "Bonaparte" as a reminder of that.

Do you like this headcanon? Hope it isn't too much of a stretch from reality!

[royalty-nobility]

Portrait of Marie-Louise of Austria, Wife of Napoleon and Empress of France

Artist: Robert Lefèvre (French, 1755–1830)

Date: 1812

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Museo Glauco Lombardi, Emilia Romagna, Italy

Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma

Marie Louise (12 December 1791 – 17 December 1847) was Duchess of Parma from 11 April 1814 until her death in 1847. She was Napoleon's second wife and as such Empress of the French and Queen of Italy from their marriage on 1 April 1810 until his abdication on 6 April 1814.

[tiny-librarian]

A gilt bronze bust of Marie Louise of Austria, Duchess of Parma.

[archduchessofnowhere]

I bring you not very good news: Nancy Goldstone wrote a double biography on Elisabeth and Empress Eugenie, to be published on February 6 of next year.

After reading @vivelareine's review of Goldstone's book on Marie Antoinette I simply do not trust this author is a good researcher, and while I won't judge this book until it's out, I can't help but being very wary already. The synopsis alone doesn't give me much hope:

From the acclaimed author of In the Shadow of the Empress comes the thrilling chronicle of two of the most influential and glamorous women in nineteenth-century Europe—Elisabeth, empress of Austria, and Eugénie, empress of France—and their efforts to rule amid the scandal, intrigue, tragedy, and violence of their era.

When they married Emperors Franz Joseph and Napoleon III, respectively, Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France became two of the most famous women on the planet. Not only were they both young and beautiful—becoming cultural and fashion icons of their time—but they played a pivotal role in ruling their realms during a tempestuous era characterized by unprecedented political and technological change.

Fearless, adventurous, and independent, Elisabeth and Eugénie represented a new kind of empress—one who rebelled against tradition and anticipated and embraced modern values. Yet both women endured hardship in their private and public lives. Elisabeth was plagued by a mother-in-law who snatched her infant children away and undermined her authority at court. Eugénie’s husband was an infamous philanderer who could not match the military prowess of his namesake. Between them, Elisabeth and Eugénie were personally involved in every major international confrontation in their turbulent century, which witnessed thrilling technological advances, as well as revolutions, assassinations, and wars.

With her characteristic in-depth research and jump-off-the-page writing, Nancy Goldstone brings to life these two remarkable women, as Europe goes through the convulsions that led up to the international landscape we recognize today.

You see, I don't think it's crazy to pair up Elisabeth and Eugenie in a biography if your focus is going to be their queenship. Because they were very different as empresses, and I'd love a comparative study on why and how was that possible. Yet the synopsis is implying they were similar? How was Elisabeth personally involved in every major international confrontation? She was only personally involved in the Compromise, every other event she only reacted to (if even). Meanwhile Eugenie actively tried to participate in the politics of France and influence her husband (successfully in many cases, I believe).

The "domineering mother-in-law" part also worries me. Unsere liebe Sisi's been out since 2008, there's no excuse to not give Sophie a more nuanced portrayal.

But well, authors usually don't write the synopsis of their books, so I won't read more into it than what I've done already. I truly hope this biography isn't terrible because we don't need to add one more book to the already giant pile of books about Elisabeth that are filled with myths and misinformation.

[illustratus]

Portrait of Joséphine de Beauharnais by Andrea Appiani

[roehenstart]

Empress Eugenie by Claude Marie Dubufe.