Watercolour signed, Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, Napoleon III

Princess Mathilde Bonaparte (1820-1904)

"The Offering to the Virgin"

Watercolour signed and dated lower left: "Mathilde 1874"

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Frédérique Aloissia Elisabeth Mathilde Letizia, Princess of Montfort, the daughter of Jerome Bonaparte and Catherine of Württemberg, ancient monarchs of Westphalia. She is the niece of Napoleon I and Napoleon III's cousin.

After the exile of Napoleon to St. Helena in 1815 and the fall of the Empire, the dynasty of Bonaparte was forced into exile and traveled throughout Europe. In 1820, the Montfort-Bonaparte settled in Trieste, Italy. It was there that Matilda was born, May 27 The family also has two other children: Jerome Napoleon, the eldest of the siblings and Jerome Napoleon, the youngest. Matilda's childhood was marked by constant moves at the whim of misfortunes and love escapades of his father.

She married on 1 November 1840 in Florence Count Anatole Demidov, titled shortly before the wedding "Prince of San Donato" by the Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany.

The childless marriage was never happy. Demidoff, fabulously rich but violent, refused to leave his mistress, Valentine St. Aldegonde. Matilda fled to Paris, taking the jewelry that were supposed to be her dowry, but Jerome Bonaparte, always short of money, had sold Demidoff before marriage. Despite this, Demidoff was sentenced by the court of St. Petersburg to pay a pension of Mathilde 200 000 francs per year and never recovered the jewels. The couple were allowed to separate in 1847 on personal decision of the Russian Tsar Nicolas 1.

His divorce, Princess Mathilde moved to Paris. She did so consistently serve the cause of Bonaparte and his cousin Louis Napoleon, later Napoleon III. It was in her salon in the rue de Courcelles that are played with those meetings that will be useful later in the future president, then emperor of France.

Driven by curiosity and openness to the hostess, the salon of Princess Mathilde is becoming increasingly important. All that France had then in the areas of Arts and Letters was invited to the princess. Very influential, it promotes the careers of many artists. She devotes herself to painting, a passion, with real success. According
Abel Hermant, "she welcomed all visitors with a Sansfaçon was the extreme refinement of the condescension and politeness. "She hated the whole label. Dubbed "the most beautiful neckline of Europe", its popularity was undeniable. His influence radiated in the cultural and literary.

were in his living room, rue de Courcelles, Paris, and after 1870, rue Berri and summer, the castle of St. Gratien, scientists, artists and writers: Hippolyte Taine, Charles, Duke of Morny, the Prince Napoleon (Plon-Plon), princes Louis, Victor and Roland Bonaparte, Princess Jeanne Bonaparte, Princess Metternich, Count-sculptor Alfred-Emilien de Nieuwerkerke, A ... Guy de Maupassant, Alphonse Daudet, Eugène Viollet-Le-Duc, José-Maria de Heredia, the painters Eugene Delacroix, Paul Delaroche, Ary Scheffer, Paul Beaudry, Gustave Boulanger and Jean Léon Gérôme, Alexandre Cabanel, Jean-Auguste Ingres, Horace Vernet, Eugène Fromentin, Leon Bonnat, Paul Gavarni, Gustave Dore, the physiologist Claude Bernard, Charles Haas, Hector Berlioz, Georges de Porto-Riche, R ...

She remarried in December 1873, at the age of 53, with the poet Claudius Popelin (1825-1892).

Died in 1904, is buried at Saint-Gratien (Val d'Oise).

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Dimensions:

Watercolour 41 X 29 cm.

with part 47.5 X 35.5 cm.

frame and assembling the house Charles & Delarue Hivert, the two Creoles, 62 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore in Paris.

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