It takes place under the patronage of Monsieur Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic and his Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
The château de Malmaison, the residence of the Empress Josephine, along with the Palais impérial de Compiègne will be hosting part of the exhibition on Napoleon I, Tsar Alexander I and Marshal Bernadotte (later Charles XIV Jean, King of Sweden),held in Stockholm in 2010.
The exhibition focuses on the family relationships linking the three dynasties through the empress and her children. One hundred and fifty exhibits, many on loan from collections in Sweden and Russia, illustrate these bonds.
Indeed, while Josephine of Leuchtenberg, the daughter of Prince Eugene of Beauharnais and the eldest of the empress's grand daughters, married Oscar, the crown prince of Sweden, in 1823, her younger brother Maximilian, married the daughter of Tsar Nicholas I, in 1839. An analysis of these family ties helps follow the itinerary of the empress's collections, the masterpieces of which are now in the Swedish royal collections or in the Hermitage Museum, which inherited the art works of the Beauharnais-Leuchtenberg-Romanov families.
These prestigious pieces reflect not only the empress's taste, but the artistic conventions of the time. Pieces from the famous Dihl and Guerhard service held in the Hermitage Museum will join pieces from Malmaison: this is the first time such an operation has been attempted in France since Prince Eugene sent the service to Munich. These brilliantly executed pieces, particularly the table centrepiece, show that antique models were still in vogue. Paintings from the empress's collections, on special loan from the Hermitage Museum, echo the general mood.
Numerous portraits from the Swedish royal collections reveal the features of Oscar, the crown prince of Sweden and his young wife Princess Josephine and a series of busts brings their children to life again. On the Russian side, the portraits of Maximilian of Leuchtenberg and Princess Maria Nicolaievna, the tsar's daughter, are a reminder of their marriage. Our understanding of these family ties, which were an integral part of the construction of Post-Napoleonic Europe, is enriched by all the personal souvenirs, trinkets and everyday objects lent by the Swedish royal collections. These snapshots of princely life tell us about their personalities, and help transmit family references which are important to their owners. The emphasis put on family souvenirs shows how the dynasties descending from Josephine have worked to keep the family memory and historical tradition alive.
The first section of the exhibition evokes Tsar Alexander I's visits to Malmaison in April and May1814 and his relationship with Josephine and her children, Prince Eugene and Queen Hortense. Josephine's gift to the tsar, the famous antique cameo known as the "Gonzague cameo", now in the Hermitage, is on display here.
The following section illustrates, firstly, the birth of Josephine, the daughter of Eugene and Princess Augusta Amelia of Bavaria, centred on the baby's cradle, and secondly, thanks to special loans from the King of Sweden, her marriage with Bernadotte's son, Oscar, the future king of Sweden, and the children born of their union. One of the exhibits is the toilette kit made by Biennais for the future queen. A third sequence presents the marriage of Josephine's brother Maximilian with the daughter of Tsar Nicholas Iand their installation in Russia. Pride of place is given to the famous dessert service made by the Dihl and Guerhard porcelain manufactory for the Empress Josephine and her son, Prince Eugene de Beauharnais, including the extraordinary centrepiece which is on display in France for the first time. Some of the works from Josephine's collections at Malmaison, now in Sweden and Russia, will be shown in their original location.
The exhibition continues at the imperial palace at Compiègne with the fascinating epic and extraordinary destiny of the three sovereigns, Napoleon I, Bernadotte and Alexander I. Rivals, allies then enemies, these three historical figures shaped the course of European affairs in the early nineteenth century. The power of the imperial symbols fashioned in France survived the fall of the Empire: an outstanding collection of luxurious objets d’art bronzes, hard stone and porcelain vases –alongside partial reconstructions of Bernadotte’s bedroom and Alexander I’s study in the Winter Palace show that the Empire style flourished in the courts of northern Europe, at Stockholm and St Petersburg.
