Portraits of Élisabeth Philippine Marie Hélène de France, known as Madame Elisabeth, the younger sister of Louis XVI.
On March 27th, 1785, Louis Charles de France was born. Known as the Duke of Normandy, he was the second son and third child born to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
He became Dauphin of France upon the death of his older brother in June of 1789, and upon the execution of his father became the titular King of France as Louis XVII.
After his father’s execution, he was forcibly separated from his Mother, Sister, and Aunt. He was often beaten and neglected by his so called “Guardians”, eventually dying in prison at the age of just ten years old.
We may think of Napoleon Bonaparte as the fearsome ruler of Europe who tried to bring down Britain’s greatest generals, but the emperor of France had a softer side too.
The beautiful engagement ring he gave to his beloved wife Josephine is up for auction next week, and it shows that the leader was a lover as well as a fighter.
The simple piece of jewellery comprises two tear-shaped gems, one diamond and one sapphire, set onto a gold band.
It is going under the hammer at the Osenat auction house in Fontainebleau, near Paris, and is expected to fetch up to €15,000 (£13,000).
At the time Napoleon married Josephine in 1796, he was a 26-year-old revolutionary soldier and she was a widow who was six years older than her husband.
Her first husband, Alexandre de Beauharnais, was an aristocrat who supported the French Revolution but later became a victim of guillotine.
When she was re-married she already had two children - one of several factors which meant the groom’s family was deeply scandalised at the match.
The couple wed on March 9, 1796 after being engaged for just two weeks.
Emperatriz Eugenia
Charles Édouard Boutibonne, (1816-1897): La emperatriz Eugenia a caballo, 1856:
Franz Xaver Winterhalter: Emperatiz Eugenia con el príncipe imperial Luis Napoleón, 1857:
Franz Xaver Winterhalter: Emperatiz Eugenia, 1853:
Franz Xaver Winterhalter: Emperatriz Eugenia al estilo María Antonieta:
Franz Xaver Winterhalter: Emperatriz Eugenia y sus damas:
Franz Xaver Winterhalter: Emperatriz Eugenia:
Franz Xaver Winterhalter: Emperatiz Eugenia:
Franz Xaver Winterhalter: Emperatiz Eugenia:
Franz Xaver Winterhalter: Emperatiz Eugenia, 1862:
A portrait of Marie Antoinette and her children, Louis Joseph and Marie-Therese, by Charles Leclerc.
![honeygsweetescape:
❝As for the royal aunts, aged thirty-eight, thirty-seven and thirty-six respectively, the malicious English anecdotalist Horace Walpole had described them as ‘clumsy, plump old wenches’. In fact the eldest and cleverest, Madame Adélaïde, had had a certain charm in youth, even if it had now long vanished; Madame Victoire was not bad-looking but had become so fat her father nicknamed her ‘Sow’; whilst Madame Sophie, known as ‘Grub’ tilted her head sideways like a frightened hare. These nursery nicknames bestowed by the King (Adélaïde was ‘Rag’) cast a deceptively warm and cosy light on the these three disappointed women left behind at Versailles […].❞](http://24.media.tumblr.com/205624bb98c91b4a5d30d6ca0f4efaa9/tumblr_misp399AGa1qfpxcko1_500.png)
❝As for the royal aunts, aged thirty-eight, thirty-seven and thirty-six respectively, the malicious English anecdotalist Horace Walpole had described them as ‘clumsy, plump old wenches’. In fact the eldest and cleverest, Madame Adélaïde, had had a certain charm in youth, even if it had now long vanished; Madame Victoire was not bad-looking but had become so fat her father nicknamed her ‘Sow’; whilst Madame Sophie, known as ‘Grub’ tilted her head sideways like a frightened hare. These nursery nicknames bestowed by the King (Adélaïde was ‘Rag’) cast a deceptively warm and cosy light on the these three disappointed women left behind at Versailles […].❞
Portraits featuring Louis Joseph Xavier François de France, Dauphin of France and eldest son of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI.
