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.
