rhyssain – Page 21 – French Travel Boutique

Jacques-Louis_David_-_The_Coronation_of_Napoleon_(1805-1807)

Less than a minute

Empress Josephine

Napoleon and Josephine had moved into the Tuileries Palace shortly after he became Premier Consul. Napoleon occupied the former King’s apartment on the first floor and Josephine had Marie-Antoinette’s apartment on the ground floor. There was a private staircase connecting the two apartments. The Tuileries continued to be the official residence when Napoleon became Emperor. Josephine’s bed from the Tuileries had gone into storage after the divorce. It is thanks to King Louis Philippe we can see it. In 1845 Louis Philippe fitted out a bedroom for his eldest daughter Louise at the Grand Trianon. She had married the King of the Belgians. He used the bed from Josephine’s bedchamber at the Tuileries Palace as well as the chairs and sofas from her reception room. More furniture from Josephine’s bedroom and boudoir at the Tuileries are at Malmaison.

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Josephine’s Beds

1 Min Read

The Turkish Boudoir

When Josephine arrived at Fontainebleau, Marie-Antoinette’s Turkish boudoir was empty. All the furniture had been sold during the French Revolution. Josephine decided to refurnish it as a private bedroom. She left the walls as Marie-Antoinette had done them.* Josephine’s new furniture and fabric sparkled with gold. The chairs were covered in silk velvet and the gold taffeta curtains were held back with crescent moons. In addition to the bed, she ordered the chaise longue, four chairs and pedestal table shown in the picture. She also had two wing chairs and a footstool as well as a firescreen. All of the original furniture is displayed. *The Turkish boudoir has been renovated and reopened in 2015. During the renovation Marie-Antoinette’s original walls were simply cleaned. Because of the small space, visits are restricted to small groups. The website—chateaudefontainebleau.fr has a 15 minute video about the restoration. It is in French but well worth seeing. Marie-Antoinette’s Turkish boudoir had a sophisticated sliding mirror (operated by the push of a button) which covered the alcove with the window overlooking the garden. It was still there and Josephine softened the look by draping a curtain around it, matching the curtain in front of her bed which was on the opposite wall. The private bedroom Josephine had furnished in Marie-Antoinette’s Turkish boudoir was beautiful but small (barely 20 square meters). Five years after her first stay at Fontainebleau, Napoleon gave Josephine a new spacious private apartment on the ground floor below her official apartment. It was the former apartments of the children of the royal family. Her new private apartment had two large reception rooms. A small room for her ladies who acted as receptionists separated the three private rooms—a boudoir/bathroom, her bedroom and a study. The furniture in the bedroom is original. The brocade fabric, which is also original, has faded over time. The boudoir next to the private bedroom doubled as a bathroom, thanks to an ingenious device which allowed the sofa to slide (on the blue base). The bath was fitted into the floor underneath. Note the full length mirror. This was the era they were introduced. Josephine did not have long to enjoy her new private apartment. She was divorced by the end of the year. She left all the former royal residences and returned to her private, and preferred residence, Malmaison.

Less than a minute

Fontainebleau

When Napoleon decided to make himself Emperor, all the former royal residences began to be converted to imperial palaces. The initial focus was on Fontainebleau, which was the last stop for the Pope on his way to Paris for Napoleon’s coronation as Emperor. Josephine took over the official bedchamber of the French Queens who had used it from the time of Marie de Medici, Henri IV’s wife. The bed was not Empire style. Josephine used the bed Marie-Antoinette had ordered shortly before the Revolution but never slept in it. The bedhead still has Marie-Antoinette’s initials. .The simple private staircase leading up to the three small rooms on the mezzanine level above the Queen’s bedchamber is discreet. The rooms were originally created for Louis XV’s wife Marie Leszczynska, who had a small private chapel, a study and maid’s quarters there. Marie-Antoinette converted it to her Turkish boudoir.

4 Mins Read

Malmaison

Five years after the ceremony which made Josephine an Empress, Napoleon decided to divorce her so he could produce an heir. Initially he had believed the lack of a child was a problem on his side because Josephine already had two children. Napoleon officially adopted them a year after declaring himself Emperor, when Josephine was 42. Later the same year, one of Napoleon’s mistresses had gave birth to a son Leon (short for Napoleon). The following month, Napoleon met the young Polish countess Marie Walewska. When she became pregnant Josephine’s time was up. Napoleon knew he could father a child and looked for a new Empress among the European royal families. The divorce settlement was generous. Josephine kept the title of Empress. She was also made Duchess of Navarre and given the chateau there. Most important to Josephine was that she received in her own right the chateau of Malmaison, her favourite residence. It was there she retired. Josephine retained most of the original décor, with one notable exception being the bedroom. Although she had lived in all the former royal palaces, Josephine’s favourite residence remained the private mansion she had bought in Malmaison. She retired there. Most of the décor remained the same with a notable exception being the bedroom. Josephine’s new architect was Louis-Martin Berthault, a former student of Charles Percier. In 1799 he had been the designer of the neoclassical bedroom of Juliette Recamier, a friend of Josephine’s from the heady days of the Directory. It was the latest style and became almost a tourist destination. Berthault designed Josephine’s new bedroom in the form of a large tent. The new bed was very similar to Juliette Recamier’s ground breaking bed 13 years earlier. It is more like a gold throne, a fitting reflection of the fact Napoleon had allowed her to keep the title of “Empress”. Josephine died in this bed shortly before her 51st birthday. After her death, Josephine’s son Eugène had the bed transported to his chateau in Munich. When Napoleon III bought his grandmother’s former residence in 1861 (his mother was Josephine’s daughter Hortense), he refurnished it and organised for Eugene’s widow to return the bed. The two rooms preceding Josephine’s bedchamber at Malmaison were originally her bathroom and her maid’s bedroom. They are now displayed as one large room, featuring the frieze which was at the Paris residence (in rue de la Victoire) she shared with Napoleon when they were first married. The room also contains original furniture from her bedroom and boudoir at the Tuileries palace, including the floor rug and her dressing table from the Directory period. The chairs were originally at Saint Cloud. They feature Josephine’s symbol of the swan. Next to the grand bedroom, Josephine had an “ordinary bedroom” with a day bed. It was on the corner overlooking the garden and filled with sunlight. It was the ideal place for Josephine to read or to write letters. The door on the left leads to Josephine’s “cabinet de toilette”. Josephine’s “cabinet de toilette” was between her “ordinary bedroom” and her boudoir. It was not a toilet but the dressing room where she also did her hair and make up. Josephine normally spent three hours each day there. Even when she was young, she may not have been as beautiful as some of the women but she took great care over her grooming and normally outshone them all. It is clear all the effort paid off when we take a look at the portrait of her by a Swiss artist which is displayed on the wall of her anti chamber leading to the main bedroom. It shows Josephine at the age of 50, the year before she died. The adjoining room is Josephine’s boudoir. The ceiling in Josephine’s octagonal boudoir is much lower than in the other rooms, allowing more effective heating. Half the original furniture is in place. Josephine also used the boudoir as a dining room when she was living at Malmaison alone after the divorce. When Josephine died Napoleon was exiled on Elba. The following year he returned to France and ruled again for the “Hundred Days”, before being finally defeated at Waterloo and being forced to abdicate again. On his way to meet the ship transporting him to what turned out to be his final exile on Saint Helena, Napoleon stayed for four nights at Malmaison. On the day of his departure he spent a long time in Josephine’s bedroom. He spoke endlessly about her to Hortense, saying he could not get used to being at Malmaison without her. He described her as “the most graceful woman I have ever known”.