The Collection of a Connoisseur: History in Manuscript
The Collection of a Connoisseur: History in Manuscript
Lot Closed
July 15, 02:12 PM GMT
Estimate
700 - 900 GBP
Lot Details
Description
JOSÉPHINE BONAPARTE
LETTER SIGNED (JOSEPHINE"), AS DUCHESS OF NAVARRE, TO MONSIEUR BONPLAND, WRITTEN LESS THAN TWO MONTHS BEFORE HER DEATH
in French, seeking a protective guard for her house Malmaison, expressing her confidence in him to find a guard for the house and commissioning him to entertain the soldiers on her account, informing him that she has just written to M. La Grenée to supply the necessary funds, enclosing a letter for Bonpland to present to the Comte de la Vallette and asking him to ensure that any answer reaches her
"...Si vous obtenes une sauve garde pour Malmaison, vous ferés manger l’officier avec vous, et vous ferés nourrir les soldats. Je viens de donner à ordre à Mr La Grenée de vous remettre, à cet effet, les fonds qui vous seraient nécessaires..."
1 page, 4to (c.23 x 18cm), [Château de] Navarre, near Évreux (Normandy), 2 April 1814
Josephine gained the Chateau de Navarre after her divorce from Napoleon, but also retained the Chateau de Malmaison, with its famous gardens. This letter was written just days before Napoleon's first abdication and expresses understandable concern about the maintenance of law and order. Josephine was soon back in Malmaison, where she entertained the Russian Tsar Alexander I, and where she died on 29 May.
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