The year 1840 marked a turning point in the future of the Bonaparte and Demidoff families. Since the death of the Emperor on 5 May 1821 that followed six years of exile on the island of St. Helena, his mortal remains at last were returning to his beloved France. The mortal remains were minus the heart that on the Emperor’s specific instruction earlier was sent in a sealed casket to Marie-Louise in Parma (Kauffmann, 1999)! On 7 December 1840 the French frigate, the Belle-Poule, with the Emperor’s remains anchored in Cherbourg. That same day, the government of Louis-Philippe, King of the French, granted Mathilde Bonaparte, the Emperor’s niece, permission to return to France (des Cars 1996). This momentous decision for the Bonapartes was made on the occasion of her marriage on 3 November 1840 to Anatole Nikolaievitch Demidoff, Prince of San Donato. It was Anatole who interceded directly with the King of the French, Louis Philippe, to bring to an end more than twenty years of banishment from France for the Bonapartes.
The funeral march for the Emperor took place on 15 December 1840 under harsh winter conditions. Despite sub-freezing temperatures the avenues overflowed with onlookers who watched the procession make its way through the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs Elysées, and through Place de la Concorde towards the Emperor’s final resting place across the Seine at Les Invalides. The crowd’s overwhelming enthusiasm resulted from nostalgia for the days of Empire. This yearning for a return to ‘the days of glory’ swept France after the release of the Emperor’s memoirs by Las Cases in 1823, two years after the Emperor’s death (Brookner, 1997). With the release of his memoirs Napoleon made true his words that “there is no immortality but the memory that is left in the minds of men” (Bruce, 1996). The memoirs set in place the cornerstone for the French Romantic Movement that would last for two or more generations (Brookner, 2000). For the writers, Hugo, Balzac, and Byron, and the painters, Delaroche, Delacroix, and Gros, Napoleon Bonaparte was the romantic hero incarnate. The return of the Emperor and a living Bonaparte to France was the opening act that would lead to the restoration of the Bonapartes to power in the second half of the 19th Century. Anatole played an instrumental, but little known role, in these important historical events. But who were the Demidoffs and how did they come to play such a role in Imperial France?
The year 1840 marked a turning point in the future of the Bonaparte and Demidoff families. Since the death of the Emperor on 5 May 1821 that followed six years of exile on the island of St. Helena, his mortal remains at last were returning to his beloved France. The mortal remains were minus the heart that on the Emperor’s specific instruction earlier was sent in a sealed casket to Marie-Louise in Parma (Kauffmann, 1999)! On 7 December 1840 the French frigate, the Belle-Poule, with the Emperor’s remains anchored in Cherbourg. That same day, the government of Louis-Philippe, King of the French, granted Mathilde Bonaparte, the Emperor’s niece, permission to return to France (des Cars 1996). This momentous decision for the Bonapartes was made on the occasion of her marriage on 3 November 1840 to Anatole Nikolaievitch Demidoff, Prince of San Donato. It was Anatole who interceded directly with the King of the French, Louis Philippe, to bring to an end more than twenty years of banishment from France for the Bonapartes.
The funeral march for the Emperor took place on 15 December 1840 under harsh winter conditions. Despite sub-freezing temperatures the avenues overflowed with onlookers who watched the procession make its way through the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs Elysées, and through Place de la Concorde towards the Emperor’s final resting place across the Seine at Les Invalides. The crowd’s overwhelming enthusiasm resulted from nostalgia for the days of Empire. This yearning for a return to ‘the days of glory’ swept France after the release of the Emperor’s memoirs by Las Cases in 1823, two years after the Emperor’s death (Brookner, 1997). With the release of his memoirs Napoleon made true his words that “there is no immortality but the memory that is left in the minds of men” (Bruce, 1996). The memoirs set in place the cornerstone for the French Romantic Movement that would last for two or more generations (Brookner, 2000). For the writers, Hugo, Balzac, and Byron, and the painters, Delaroche, Delacroix, and Gros, Napoleon Bonaparte was the romantic hero incarnate. The return of the Emperor and a living Bonaparte to France was the opening act that would lead to the restoration of the Bonapartes to power in the second half of the 19th Century. Anatole played an instrumental, but little known role, in these important historical events. But who were the Demidoffs and how did they come to play such a role in Imperial France?
BEGINNING OF THE DEMIDOFF INDUSTRIAL DYNASTY
The Demidoffs are a dynasty of Russian industrialists who started with Nikita Antoufiev Demidoff in the late 17th Century. Contrary to legend, Nikita (1656-1725) was always a ‘free’ man who operated a successful arms manufacturing and importing business in Tula. Tula is located a few hundred miles south of Moscow. Nikita became an armourer to the State of Russia during the reign of Peter the Great. The Tsar recognised Nikita’s entrepreneurial talent and agreed to ‘privatise’ for him on 2 January 1701 a state-controlled steel foundry to develop munitions for his armies. During the war against Sweden (1700 – 21) the Demidoff arms factories became the chief suppliers to the Russian forces providing cannons, pistols, swords, and other munitions at nearly one-half the market rate and on schedule. For making victory over Sweden possible, Peter the Great ennobled Nikita on 21 September 1720 five years before his death (Boettger, 2003b). Nikita’s first son, Akinfy Nikitich Demidoff (1678 – 1745), added eight steel foundries and arms factories between 1717 and 1735 and opened mining development in the Urals. For his services, Peter the Great raised Akinfy to the rank of hereditary nobility. Akinfy’s third son, Nikita Akinfievich Demidoff (1724 – 1789), who took over after the passing of his father, was a dilettante scientist and the first family member to become active as a patron of the arts and sciences. He numbered among his correspondents Voltaire and Diderot. He travelled widely and familiarised himself with industrial practises and cultural refinements. By 1750 the production from the Demidoff mines accounted for an immense 40% of Russia’s gross national production (Blanchard, 1989).
Nicholas Nikitich Demidoff (1773 – 1828) inherited from his father the industrial empire when only fifteen. At this time he was already a member of the Imperial Guard and served as aide-de-camp to Prince Potemkin in the Prince’s great victory over the Turks at Ochakov. Nicholas continued to serve Prince Potemkin in this role on the Prince’s triumphant return to St. Petersburg and Catherine the Great in 1789. After three years of service, Nicholas was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Grenadier Regiment of Moscow and, at twenty-one, he was appointed Gentleman of the Bedchamber. However, a period of ‘reckless youth’ saw Nicholas accumulate staggering amounts of personal debt that sharply curtailed productivity at the mines. These difficulties did not prevent him from marrying Baroness Elisabeth Alexandrovna Stroganoff (1779-1818) in 1796 when she was seventeen years of age. In addition, in the same year Czar Paul I conferred on Nicholas the title of ‘Hereditary Commander of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem’. However to overcome his serious financial troubles, Nicholas was forced to receive permission from the Czar to defer tax payments for five years and mortgage his palace in Moscow. In addition, management of the Demidoff Industrial Empire was entrusted with the Stroganoffs. Before the century ended, Nicholas re-assumed his serious responsibility and exhibited great entrepreneurial skill in expanding the industrial empire.
Nicholas’s earlier encounter with Europe’s ‘cultural pinnacle’ led the Demidoffs to move to Paris where they lived in luxury on the gas-lit corner of rue Laffitte and the boulevard des Italiens. It was here that the Napoleonic ‘lustre’ first touched the Demidoffs, since they regularly attended the glittery balls held at the Tuileries Palace. Elisabeth especially became an ardent supporter of Napoleon and passed on her enthusiasm to her children. Unfortunately, escalating political tension between Russia and France prompted the recall of the Foreign Service officer, Nicholas, to Moscow.
In Russia, Nicholas returned to the army and he financed and raised a battalion that fought with distinction at the battle of Borodino against the invading troops of the Emperor in 1812. He returned to Paris in 1815 but without his wife since the marriage to Elisabeth was failing. While in Pairs Nicholas commissioned from Pierre-Philippe Thomire and his son[1]in-law and partner Louis-Auguste-Cesar Carbonelle, among many malachite based objets d’art, six versions of a large Ormula Mantel Clock, celebrating Russian Patriotism, two mantel clocks, together with victorious trophy candelabra.
In 1819 he was appointed the Russian Ambassador to the Court of Tuscany and brought his two boys, Paul and Anatole, with him to Florence in 1822. His estranged wife, Elisabeth, had died in Paris the earlier year following a painful illness. Elisabeth was buried in Paris at the cemetery of Père-Lachaise, where Nicholas had constructed the immense Demidoff family mausoleum, the largest in the cemetery. In Florence, Nicholas acquired an immense 42 hectares of swampy land north of Florence from the Catholic Church and commissioned the palace of Villa di San Donato built. He further initiated a series of schools, hospitals, and public charities throughout Tuscany. On his land Nicholas established a theatre, an academy for foreign teachers to study languages, mathematics, and physics, as well as, an art collection that became famous throughout Europe. In addition to private quarters, containing priceless furnishings, the villa had fourteen salons built expressly for the display of oil paintings and watercolours, drawings, sculpture, furniture, porcelain, glass, tapestries, and objets d’art of all variety. From his father Nicholas inherited paintings by Greuze and Jean-Louis Demarne, among many others. He also collected Dutch, Flemish, and Italian ‘Old Master’ paintings and decorative art, and built a spectacular collection of armoury now found in the Wallace Collection in London. His extensive collection of Roman and Greek statues are in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. It is said that Nicholas amassed the largest private collections of art of his time in his separate residences in Paris, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Villa di San Donato (Tonini, 1991). On Nicholas’ death in 1828 at only fifty-five years of age his estate passed to his sons, Anatole and Paul.
Anatole Nikolaievitch Demidoff, First Prince of San Donato
Anatole Demidoff, First Prince of San Donato (1813- 1870) was born in Moscow and educated in Paris by a French Jansenist priest named abbé Brandt. Similar to his father’s fate, Anatole assumed important responsibility at only fifteen on the premature passing of his father. Based on an extensive inventory of treasures approved for export by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Anatole’s brother, Paul, took possession of a large portion of Nicholas’s collections, while Anatole took possession of Villa di San Donato.
Anatole found fascination in the physical, social and natural sciences, art, painting, collections, music, architecture, and, of course, industry. He was ambassador to the Russian Embassies of Paris, Rome, and Venice. At Villa di San Donato Anatole expanded the structure by adding a third story to house the growing collections. He built a twelve hectares prize-winning botanical garden and a zoo with kangaroos, zebras, and other exotic animals. The palatial estate included a theatre, telegraph bureau, tramway stop (Florence – Prato), cattle farm, network of lakes, museum, and clay pigeon shooting and swimming complex. The library numbered in excess of 40,000 volumes each carefully catalogued and stamped with Anatole’s initials in gold. A Catholic Chapel was adorned with 15th Century religious oil-painted wooden panels by Carlo Crivelli, known as the Crivelli altarpiece, that is now found at the National Gallery in London, while a Russian Chapel was adorned with important Russian icons now found at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Florence. Anatole had transformed Villa Di San Donato into a thriving principality.
On the passing in 1840 of Paul, his much older and only brother, Anatole became co-owner of the Industrial Empire with Paul’s widow, Baroness Aurore Stjernwell Demidoff. Anatole hired Frédéric Le Play from France, an eminent professional manager and scientist, to oversee production and the development of the mines and munitions factories consistent with the latest social and scientific theories. Innovative social practises were introduced that included building a series of schools, hospitals, and living places for the workers in the industrial empire that spanned fifteen villages and nine munitions and mining factories. Anatole’s most ambitious and talented managers were sent to work-study programmes in Germany and England and, in turn, talented scientists and business people from these countries were brought to the Demidoff complex at Nizhny Tagil. Applying the latest scientific, management, and social advances to the mining empire, Anatole and Aurore oversaw an increase in iron production of 32% from 1837 to 1851.
Anatole returned to Paris for an extended period when he was eighteen in 1831. A self[1]styled ‘dandy’ and ‘anglophile’, Anatole and his aristocratic friends dressed in the finest be[1]spoke costumes adorned with jewellery and sported the English trouser. The height of ‘anglomania’ in Parisian society was the launch of the English-styled Jockey Club on 11 November 1833 (Iauzanne, 2002). This exclusive Club founded by fifteen members of the high aristocracy included, in addition to Anatole, other prominent dandies, Charles Laffitte, Count Adam Laginski, and Joseph Napoleon Ney, 2nd Prince de La Moskowa (1803-1857), the son of the Emperor’s famous and ‘brave’ Marshal Ney. Lord Henry Seymour (1805-59), the half brother of the 4th Marquess of Hertford, was elected its first president. The members of the French Jockey Club achieved notoriety for their regular attendance at the Opera in Paris that in the middle 1830’s was more famous for the ‘easy virtue’ of its dancing girls than its classical performances (Seymour, 1996). Dining at the finest establishments and wearing the latest jewellery-encrusted clothing that more often than not outshone those of their female escorts at the dances; the dandies were the leading playboys of the City of Lights.
It was during this period that Anatole became the singular most important customer of the famous jewellery establishment Fossin & Fils, later to be named Chaumet (Scarisbrick, 1995). Commissions flowed for exquisite tie pins, cufflinks, diamond settings to sit atop walking sticks, together with jewel-encrusted gold boxes surmounted with miniature paintings and ancient cameos. Under its former name of Nitot & Fils this institution became Paris’ pre-eminent jewellers when in 1802 they were awarded the commission for the Emperor’s Consular Sword and where Josephine commissioned countless objets d’art, gifts, and jewellery.
Anatole would also establish himself in these early years as a connoisseur and fearless collector of ‘modern’ art following in the footsteps of generations of his forebears. He was a passionate and knowledgeable patron of the painters of the Romantic Age including Paul Delaroche, Eugène Delacroix, Eugène Lami, and Auguste Raffet, among others. Anatole commissioned numerous paintings from Paul Delaroche including the influential Execution of Lady Jane Grey in 1834 that today is in the National Gallery in London. This painting, together with the Death of Poussin, by Francois Granet, that was acquired earlier in 1833, were the two most popular works at the Salon of 1834. Anatole instinctively gravitated to the giants of the Modern Romantic Art Movement: Eugène Delacroix, who was given a number of commissions, Richard Parkes Bonington, whose watercolours Anatole collected in large numbers, and Théodore Géricault, whose watercolour of horses was added to the collections (Noon, 2003). Anatole also purchased at the most prominent auctions, such as the Duchess of Berry sale in 1837 where, with assistance from his close friend and important artist Auguste Raffet, he acquired twenty-three Dutch and Flemish ‘Old Masters’. These included the masterpieces, The Swearing of the Oath of the Treaty of Munster by Gerard Ter Borch, today found at the National Gallery in London, and The Forest by Meindert Hobbema, among others by Jacob Van Ruysdael, Adrian Van Ostade, and Aelbert Cuyp.
Later, at the Helen, Duchess d’Orleans sale in 1853, he would add to his collections the famous painting by Ingres, Antochius and Stratonice, now at Musée Conde in Chantilly, and Francesca and Rimini by Ary Scheffer, now found at the Wallace Collection in London. From 1836 to 1851, he commissioned from Eugéne Lami a series of 61 elegant watercolours on London bourgeois scenes. Later in 1851, he commissioned from the same artist a series of 12 watercolour depicting Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace. Anatole was also interested in sculpture, owning, among others, Canova’s, Young Girl with a Greyhound, James Pradier’s, Satyr and Bacchante, now in the Louvre, and, the scandalous, Woman Bitten by a Snake, showing the courtesan Apollonie Sabatier by A. Clesinger that is now at the Musée d’Orsay.
However, unknown to Anatole reports were reaching the Russian Court at St. Petersburg describing Anatole’s fascination with the Napoleonic cult, recommendation in French Journals to free Russian serfs, and a lifestyle centred on extravagance rather than promoting Russian affairs. It did not help matters when on 19 March 1837 Anatole announced his new Italian hereditary title of ‘Count of San Donato’ conferred on him by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II. The Czar Nicholas I and members of his Court on reading the growing stream of reports responded with growing outrage (Kulture 1857 and Haskell 1994).
It was around this time in Paris that Anatole became enamoured with the young and beautiful Countess Marie-Valentine de Sainte-Aldegonde (1820-1891). Anatole met Valentine while working with her father; a close friend named Count Charles Camille de Sainte-Aldegonde (du Perron 1953). Count de Sainte-Aldegonde would accompany Anatole in June 1837 on a six-month scientific exploration of Southern Russia. Valentine’s mother, Adélaïde Bourlon de Chavanges, later Countess de Sainte-Aldegonde, was the former Lady to the Palace of Empress Marie-Louise Bonaparte (Beau 1989). Following in her mother’s footsteps, Valentine became Lady of the Palace to the consort of Louis[1]Phillipe, King of the French. Valentine had secured this prestigious position through the influence of Edmond de Talleyrand-Périgord and his wife, Dorothée, born Princess of Courlande. It was Edmond and Dorothée, latter the Duchess of Dino, that had plotted with Madame Adélaïde d’Orleans in her quest to bring her brother, Louis-Phillipe, crowned King of the French in 1830 (Beau, 2003).
However, with Anatole’s persistent travelling, scientific research, and the distractions of life as a dandy, Valentine would need to wait. Anatole would pay dearly for this decision. While he was exploring rock formations and foliage in the Crimea in the second half of 1837 and, on his return, spending many months of 1838 organising and chronicling the journey in close co-ordination with his writer friend, Jules Janin, marriage arrangements were being made for Valentine. The powerful Dorothée was determined to marry off her sons following the death on 17 May 1838 of her great uncle, duc Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord and soon thereafter it was arranged for Valentine to marry Dorothée’s second son, Alexandre-Edmond de Talleyrand-Périgord, the duc of Dino (1813-1894). However, Anatole and Valentine were to continue their romance clandestinely and then brashly in the open until at least 1846 although both were now wedded to different people (du Perron 1953).
Anatole meets Princess Mathilde
On his return from Southern Russia at the end of 1837, Anatole accompanied the members of his French team to Paris to organise for publication an exhaustive scientific record of the expedition. A sumptuous and scientifically important series of large-format books that included lithographs executed by Auguste Raffet commenced publication in 1840 entitled, Voyage dans la Russie Méridionale et la Crimée (Demidoff, 1840). With his contribution ended, Anatole returned to Villa di San Donato to spend the winter with his latest romantic conquest Madame de Montault, daughter of the important Madame de La Rochefoucauld (du Perron 1953). Jules Janin, who was responsible for transcribing most of the book’s content from Anatole’s diary of the journey, suggested a holiday and the two agreed on a tour of Italy. On 23 May 1839 Jules set off from Paris. Jules organised a stop to visit Jérôme Bonaparte, the former King of Westphalia, the brother to the Emperor, and now in exile at Villa di Quarto in Florence. Jules and his entourage, that included Anatole and a Mr. Duverger, were invited by the King to attend a luncheon at his Villa in celebration of the feast of Saint Jean on 25 June 1839. Anatole was enchanted by the young Princess Mathilde Bonaparte (1820-1904) that Jules noted was ‘in white and rose, without ambition, charming, inoffensive, beautiful, and gracious for her eighteen years, she received them like a young parisienne. After lunch, she danced like a simple italienne, she was gracious, naïve, and charming’ (Janin, 1839, page 206). There was a fireworks display over the Arno River that evening. Jules and Anatole concluded that they had found not only a beautiful princess but one that was naïve, innocent, and timid. Their understanding of Mathilde’s character would prove incomplete and in parts false. She was, in fact, an ‘emancipated’ and independent young lady and after she married Anatole refused to suffer in silence or turn a blind to his indiscretions (Mergier-Bourdeix, 1973).
Jules and his entourage attended dinner at Villa di Quarto with King Jérôme and the other Bonaparte family members on 9 July 1839. At dinner the talk was of Paris. Anatole told Mathilde that his ultimate triumph would be the day she appeared at the Opéra in Paris, the Duc d’Orléans would come and offer her a bouquet of flowers, Jules a small feast of food, and Duverger, the performance programme! (Mergier-Bourdeix, 1973). Soon thereafter Anatole and Mathilde discussed engagement. Based on Jules’ findings, Jérôme and the other Bonaparte family members were supportive and Mathilde anxiously awaited the proposal of marriage (Mergier-Bourdeix, 1973). Anatole, however, was struggling with the commitment and procrastinated. If he were going to ask for Mathilde’s hand he would first need to resolve important obstacles. The first was the opinion of the Russian ambassador to Italy that there was no hope of marrying Mathilde since the Czar would refuse granting permission. The second was Madame de Montault. She was still living with Anatole at Villa di San Donato in the summer of 1839 and to bring an end to this complicated relationship that was now serious could only be done with great pain and difficulty. He had already ended a highly publicised relationship with the famous Parisian courtesan, Marie Duplessis. Lastly, there was Valentine. She he could not forget.
On the pretext of attending business for Jérôme in Brussels, Anatole attended Valentine’s wedding to Alexandre-Edmond, Duke of Dino that took place at Valentine’s mother’s château at Beauregard on 8 October 1839. Anatole’s wedding gift for the bride was outlandish and raised important discussion among the guests. He commissioned from Fossin & Fils a magnificent and elaborate ‘medieval-styled’ jewellery with the initials VD surmounted by a ‘ducal’ coronet. Valentine would be the recipient of many other elaborate and outrageously expensive gifts of jewellery commissioned at Fossin & Fils by Anatole (Scarisbrick, 1995).
Regardless of the ‘mixed’ signals communicated by his extravagant gift to Valentine, Anatole returned to Florence determined to marry Mathilde. He broke with Madame de Montault and, although difficult and emotionally charged, Anatole presented convincing evidence to Mathilde that he had acted with honourable cause to end the relationship (du Perron 1953). He also arranged to overcome the reluctance of the Czar towards the marriage. However, Anatole was on more treacherous grounds now that the fifty-four-year[1]old former King of Westphalia, now Prince of Montfort, entered into negotiations on the arrangements for gaining his daughter’s hand. King Jérôme was chronically in debt and usually in massive proportions (Atteridge, 1909). The King’s pension that his wife, Queen Catherine, had secured from her father, the King of Wurtemberg, and her cousin, the Czar of Russia, ceased after Catherine’s death in Lausanne in 1834 (du Perron 1953). Anatole’s riches represented an inviting release from the crippling burden of debt. But what was the basis of the King of Westphalia’s seemingly uncontrollable appetite for luxury that led him time-after-time into serious financial difficulty?
Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia
Jérôme Bonaparte (1784-1860), the youngest of Napoleon’s four brothers, typically receives harsh treatment from even the earliest historians (Conservateur, 1829). Fifteen years separated him in age from Napoleon and of all the brothers it was only Jérôme who had never known hard times. His early years were dominated by the ascendancy of his brother and his ‘star’ to become the most powerful man in Europe. Aged fifteen, Jérôme came to live at the Tuileries with Napoleon and Joséphine in 1799 following the completion of his college courses. A typical account involves Jérôme ‘escaping’ from the Tuileries in search of the most expensive stores along the boulevards.
At one luxury establishment he demands to see the most beautiful and expensive item. The store manager with difficulty shows the fifteen-year-old a gold box valued at the immense sum of FF 16,000. “That is fine”, said Jérôme, “send it to the Tuileries where l’aide de camp of the First Counsul will pay”. L’aide de camp, Duroc, thinking the item must have been purchased by Napoleon paid and the next day presented the accounts for the First Counsul’s consideration. Napoleon was aghast. That evening at dinner Napoleon approached Jérôme and grabbing him by the two ears asked “Sir, who gave you permission to purchase items for FF 16,000?” “Ah, me”, came the confident response, “that is how I am, I only like the best things!” (E.Dentu 1861, page 21). Due to his immense charm and panache, Napoleon humoured and financed Jérôme’s extravagances during his teenage and then into his adult years with regrettable results on Jérôme’s character (Schom, 1992).
In 1801 Napoleon decided on a career in the Navy for Jérôme and he was moved out of the Tuileries. This brought him to the United States where, besides dining with Thomas Jefferson, in Baltimore he met the beautiful Elisabeth ‘Betsy’ Patterson (1785-1879). The two fell in love almost at first meeting and were married on Christmas Eve 1803 by Dr. Carroll, Archbishop of Baltimore. Napoleon refused to consider Jérôme’s marriage official claiming that he was underage and had failed to secure his mother’s permission to marry. Napoleon’s plan was for the Bonapartes to marry into the families of the European Crown Rulers to cement alliances for the Empire. To break off the marriage with Betsy, Napoleon promised to treat Jérôme generously. His American debts would be paid and he would receive an annual income of FF 150,000 as a commander in the Navy. An additional FF 200,000 was provided Jérôme directly by Napoleon. It was soon all gone. Napoleon was furious when he found out and wrote that Jérôme had more money than any prince did in Europe. He must not have another centime. If he could not pay his debts, let him go to prison! (Atteridge 1909, page 156).
However, in place of prison Napoleon made him Prince of the Empire and his annual allowance was raised to FF 1,000,000 in October 1807. Napoleon then arranged for Jérôme to marry Catherine of Wurtemberg and assume the responsibility of ruling the Kingdom of Westphalia. Jérôme suggested to his brother that as a preliminary to taking this serious responsibility he be assisted with his debts. Jérôme admitted that despite his generous annual income and gifts, he owed FF 2,000,000 to French creditors! In exasperation, the Emperor gave in and organised for Jérôme a loan totalling FF 1,800,000 from the Imperial Treasury and brought the sum to FF 2,000,000 by advancing Jérôme part of his own personal allowance. Jérôme was instructed to repay the Imperial Treasury from annual instalments from his civil list as the King of Westphalia.
The religious marriage to Catherine of Wurtemberg was celebrated on 23 August 1807. Her father, the King of Wurtemberg, arranged a dowry of 100,000 florins and jewellery in the same amount. Napoleon and Jérôme provided Catherine jewellery including a pearl necklace valued at FF 300,000 and an annual income of FF 100,000. After the wedding Napoleon himself placed on Catherine a diadem of brilliants, together with a magnificent seven-strand pearl necklace comprised of 384 individual pearls of 4,200 grains each harvested from the Gulf of Persia (Brandel, 2001). The couple then left Paris on 22 November 1807 to start life as the King and Queen of Westphalia making their state entry in the capital of Cassel on 7 December 1807. Jérôme was now ‘cousin’ to the Czar of Russia. Catherine, raised in the tradition of a German Princess, would ignore the series of court scandals involving Jérôme and his circle of female admirers.
By early in the new year Jerome was again in serious debt. He wrote to Napoleon sharing his pain at needing to turn away distressed creditors empty-handed. The Emperor this time refused. Jérôme persisted and in 1809 on Napoleon’s return from the Peninsula an envoy of Jérôme’s visited the Emperor to elicit financial support. Napoleon refused to discuss the matter and wrote to Jérôme to end his reckless extravagance, state parties, and to attend to business. He would get nothing. Jérôme found sources of liquidity from a ‘forced’ loan that all wealthy ‘Westphalian’ subjects had to subscribe in exchange for government bonds. A further FF 6,000,000 was secured from bankers in Amsterdam and the granting of mining concessions to finance equipment for his army.
With Jérôme’s financial situation improved, on a trip to Paris in 1809 a royal crown was commissioned from Fossin & Fils and new state carriages at a cost of FF 1,500,000 (Atteridge, 1909). Jérôme further ordered new uniforms for the upcoming Russian campaign and commissioned an artist to design new plumed helmets made of silver with ‘cuirass’ of steel inlaid with enamels. These purchases were commanded despite repayments of principle and interest to the Imperial Treasury now falling months in arrears (Atteridge, 1909).
Following the collapse of the Empire in 1814 Jérôme and Catherine took flight from Paris. During these difficult times Catherine reached out and found a friend in the Czar. The Czar promised to secure for Catherine’s husband an indemnity for the loss of Westphalia, advance her money, grant her a pension, and procure for the two of them French passports to reach Trieste (Atteridge, 1909). After the Emperor’s dashing escape from the island of Elba on 20 March 1815 the Congress at Vienna ordered the arrest of Jérôme. Jérôme escaped by hiding in a Neapolitan vessel and reaching the south of France by way of Naples and Corsica. His wife and infant son, however, on instruction of her father, the King of Wurtemberg, were imprisoned in Göppingen during the duration of the ‘One Hundred Days’ (E.Dentu, 1866).
Jérôme was re-united with his brother in Paris on 27 May 1815. It was his conduct during the ‘One Hundred Days,’ Napoleon’s brief return to power, where Jérôme distinguished himself a brave soldier and loyal brother. Unlike the Jérôme of the past he accepted a modest command. He was named commander of the 6th division in the 2nd Corps d’Armée under General Count Reille. With his division of 7,800 soldiers Jérôme marched north where he fought with distinction against the coalition troops (E.Dentu, 1866).
The battle commenced on 16 June 1815 with Jérôme’s division successfully repulsing defenders from the Forest of Bossu. During the charge Jérôme was hit but continued to lead the attack. The first bullet hit his hand and a second his ‘bridle’ arm that he bandaged without dismounting (E.Dentu, 1866). At the breakfast meeting at the French headquarters on 18 June 1815, Napoleon described the odds 90% in his favour and 10% against (E.Dentu, 1866). Jérôme’s division that now numbered 5,000 was positioned on the far left. At 11:30 AM Jérôme launched a bayonet charge on the farm of Hougoment. The 6th division fought with distinction although out-numbered and over-powered by the battalions of Nassau. Jérôme and his men were forced to retreat towards the Charleroi road. Here Jérôme found his brother pitched in battle. Napoleon took the hand of Jérôme with his bandaged arm, smoke-covered face, and uniform in tatters and responded, “My brother, I regret to have come to know you so late” (E.Dentu 1866, page 95). It was this Jérôme Bonaparte fighting side-by-side with the Emperor in the pitch of battle ready to sacrifice all that Anatole revered always. Jérôme’s shared history with modern history’s Romantic Hero would cement a partnership between Anatole and Jérôme that would last decades and withstand the harsh tribulation of Anatole’s separation from Mathilde and requests from Jérôme for unlimited advances of monies.
Following the defeat at Waterloo Napoleon was transported on the H.M.S. Northumberland to St. Helena arriving on 15 October 1815 and bringing to an end dreams of conquest and Empire. Jérôme and his young family eventually reached Italy punished with a life of exile and desperate to return to France and regain a position of unlimited luxury. Anatole’s entrance was seen as a key to unlock an ever-flowing fountain of riches and return to France. Jérôme would not see France for another thirty-two years.
Pre-Nuptial Agreement and Mathilde’s Dowry
King Jérôme’s position with his future son-in-law was that he was in no position to provide Mathilde any kind of dowry. The weight of personal debt prevented any advance of monies. Lastly, Anatole’s title of Count was deemed insufficient in dignity for the niece of the Emperor. Jérôme disregarded the fact that it was none other than Peter the Great that had ennobled Anatole’s father’s family and that through his mother he could trace his ancestry to the original ‘Rurik’ founding Prince of Russia (Boettger, 2003). A steep price would have to be paid if Anatole expected to enter the family.
Anatole persevered despite these conditions with the ardent support of Mathilde and other Bonaparte family members that included Marie-Julie Clary, the estranged wife of King Joseph, Jérôme’s brother. However, it was in London on 10 March 1840 at a meeting with King Joseph that the King informed Anatole that it was financially impossible for him to support Jérôme’s request for a contribution of FF 200,000 towards Mathilde’s dowry. Jérôme was using the pretext of his daughter’s upcoming marriage to raise monies for himself never intending that these monies would form part of Mathilde’s dowry. Anatole was outraged to discover this deception and that same day in London wrote a letter to King Jérôme stating that these unsavoury arrangements forced him to withdraw from the engagement to Mathilde (du Perron 1953). In the same correspondence Anatole stated that he was keeping to his side of the arrangement and was progressing to elevate his ‘station’ and secure a more distinguished title from the Emperor of Russia and others promised by the King of Wurtemberg. However, he pointed out that King Jérôme’s insistence on not providing a dowry was laying a false foundation to the union between the families. These activities were kept hidden from Mathilde who was suffering through the tense period of negotiation and delays on fixing the date of her marriage.
After six more months of fruitless negotiation, Anatole, now desperate and with no hope in sight, in August demanded an audience with King Jérôme to be attended by witnesses. Anatole’s gamble was to unequivocally demonstrate in front of all that he steadfastly and in good faith kept his side of the arrangement, while the King manoeuvred for maximum personal financial gain. The King confronted by an impassioned future son-in-law armed with forceful arguments and a clear stated intention to marry Mathilde but with honour at long last gave his consent. A dowry would be provided.
Anatole proposed marriage to Mathilde on 25 August and she accepted. The wedding would take place in two months time. On 1 September 1840 a preliminary pre-nuptial agreement was signed. On the 10th of September Mathilde wrote to a friend explaining that ‘I am at the peak of all my wishes and am happy beyond all expression. The marriage is set for 15 October 1840 and takes place here in Florence. Anatole is sound morally as he is in body and I am terribly attached to him that I cannot put into words…during these numerous periods of highly disagreeable circumstances….’ Mathilde, in fact, had been secretly in love with Anatole since 1838 when she had first met him (Mathilde Bonaparte 1840). Unfortunately, this proved a hollow victory for Anatole. The marriage would be postponed again as Jérôme and Anatole struggled with the numerous complicated passages to find an equitable arrangement. At last on 20 October 1840 with the extensive engagement of Jules Janin, who was acting as Anatole’s attorney, a thirty-page pre-nuptial agreement was finally ready for signing at King Jerome’s Villa of Quarto (Mergier-Bourdeix, 1973). Witnesses to the agreement included none other than Valentine’s husband, the Duke Alexandre- Edmond Talleyrand-Périgord, as well as, Colonel Grigory Orloff, the Count von Mandelsloh, and Henry Fox, the future Lord Holland.
It was agreed that Mathilde’s dowry totalled FF 290,000 of which FF 50,000 was comprised of her personal jewellery, wardrobe, and musical instruments including her harp. The balance of FF 240,000 was payable in cash and was to be presented to her future husband and if unpaid to Anatole’s heir(s) without fail on demand and within the same month of his death. In the event that Anatole’s death preceded Mathilde an amount of FF 500,000 was payable to Anatole’s heir(s).
Article 5 of the pre-nuptial agreement concerned diamonds and jewellery valued at FF 1,000,000. In the document it was declared that Anatole was the understood and legal owner. The list included Catherine of Wurtemberg’s famous seven rung strands of pearls originally given to her by the Emperor on the occasion of her marriage to Jérôme and valued at FF 225,305. In addition, there were opals valued at FF 140,000, and a diamond necklace valued at FF 150,000. The jewels further included the Order of St. John’s Cross of Malta granted to Anatole’s father by Tsar Paul I valued at FF 10,800 and jewellery of his mother, Baroness Elisabeth Stroganoff (CSAA, 1267/2710, Box 5, Page 407).
This odd arrangement whereby the husband, Anatole, was proclaimed the owner of his wife’s ‘diamonds’ was due to further machinations by Jérôme. Although Jérôme agreed to provide the dowry he pleaded a lack of cash. So to ensure that Jérôme kept his side of the bargain Anatole agreed to pay off Jérôme’s debt and to raise cash by purchasing from Jérôme relics of the Empire that would be moved to his Villa di San Donato and his hôtel in Paris. Anatole purchased a statue of the Emperor for FF 11,000 and statues of Jérôme and Madame Mère for FF 10,000 each. Jérôme then progressed to sell to Anatole the jewels of Catherine of Wurtemberg that should have formed the original contents of Mathilde’s dowry. Catherine’s most precious seven strand pearl necklace from Napoleon was sold to Anatole for FF 500,000. Anatole further purchased for FF 20,000 a set of turquoises and diamonds (parrure) that Mathilde inherited from Charlotte of Wurtemberg (Perron, 1953). The future son-in-law not only upheld his agreed-upon obligations but also was forced to galvanise and support the obligations of his future father-in-law to prevent the wedding plans from collapsing. The sad situation in the end was that Anatole’s generous aid for his future father-in-law went for nought. Not one cent was ever contributed by the King towards Mathilde’s dowry. In addition to her wardrobe, furniture and musical instruments valued at FF 50,000 what Jérôme provided were two snuff boxes, an imperial eagle in silver, and the sword of Francois I taken by Napoleon’s troops during the Peninsular War (des Cars 1996).
King Jérôme and family members received from Anatole an annual pension of FF 117,669 of which FF 24,000 was for himself, FF 6,000 for his son, FF 1,200 for Madame de Redding, Mathilde’s good friend and minder, and FF 85,000 for Mathilde (CSAA, 1267/2710, Box 5, Pages 78-82). This deceit seeped into the foundation of the marriage and acted like poison to contribute towards its dissolution in six short years.
To fulfil the other obligations imposed by Jérôme and with only weeks before the wedding, on 11 October 1840 Anatole succeeded in securing the more exalted title of Prince of San Donato from Leopold II, the Grand Duke of Tuscany. This meant that Mathilde would retain her station as Princess after the wedding in place of the lesser title of madame la comtesse. Anatole further wrote directly to Louis Philippe on 11 September 1840 requesting that Mathilde be authorised to return to France and that Anatole was prepared to extend his personal guaranty that her return would pose no threat to France. The King’s Ministers provided their authorisation on 7 December (des Cars 1996).
The marriage was celebrated on 3 November 1840 in both a Russian Orthodox service, held at the Chapel at Villa di San Donato, and a Roman Catholic religious service held at the Duomo. After mass the countess Julie Clary, King Joseph’s estranged wife, presided over an elaborate lunch. Mathilde was resplendent in a white silk wedding gown from London wearing her mother’s pearls and new jewellery with ‘Napoleonic’ motifs especially commissioned for the occasion by Anatole from Chaumet. Mathilde’s cousin and son of Queen Hortense, Louis-Napoleon, wrote from his prison in the Fort of Ham to congratulate the newlyweds. They, of course, attempted to be in Paris in December on the occasion of the return of the Emperor’s remains, but Anatole was recalled to St. Petersburg instead to explain confusing arrangements made with the Vatican on the religion of any children resulting from the marriage.
The Demidoffs entry to Paris at last took place on 17 August 1841. While riding in the carriage to Anatole’s hôtel, Mathilde overcome with emotion near the Arc de Triomphe instinctively jumped out and kissed a startled French soldier in uniform on both cheeks. When they arrived at Anatole’s residence on 109 rue Saint-Dominique at seven that evening Mathilde saw hanging on the wall The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche among other commissioned modern works and ‘Old Masters’, together with Empire furniture purchased from King Jérôme. That night Mathilde did not sleep from excitement and the following day the couple visited Napoleon’s tomb at the Invalides. For Valentine, Anatole commissioned religious jewellery using the original ebony from Napoleon’s coffin (Scarisbrick, 1995). Anatole’s relationship with Valentine became impossible for Mathilde to bear. In September 1846 Mathilde was determined to separate from Anatole and fled from his hôtel taking his ‘diamonds’. In this moment of crisis Mathilde turned to Count Orloff of the Russian Court and, her cousin, Czar Nicholas I. She sent them correspondence explaining the basis of her momentous decision. Since this letter alone was her sole means of gaining her liberty and compensation from Anatole it could not fail. Unfortunately, Anatole and his behaviour were ‘blackened’ and most likely beyond all recognition in the correspondence. Anatole pleaded for Mathilde to return and, in co-ordination with his father-in-law offered her lodging at Jérôme’s residence. His personal letters to Mathilde were short on tact and understanding. Anatole lambasted her decision to move out of her lover’s residence and into a religious convent while she awaited the Czar’s instruction as “the most ridiculous combination of decisions of our times”. He also reminded Mathilde of her duty commenting that “her mother, who had been a Queen, had left a lasting legacy to the world after the loss of her throne, by steadfastly remaining attached to the destiny of her husband… and thus gaining the highest esteem and honour as a wife.” (CSAA, 1267/2710, Box 5, Page 408)
After weeks of delay, Mathilde’s separation terms was decided on 18 September 1846 by the civil tribunal of St. Petersburg and sanctioned by Czar Nicholas I by Imperial ukase. The terms of the separation forced Anatole and his heirs to pay Mathilde an annual pension of FF 200,000 for the rest of her life, of which, FF 40,000 was for King Jérôme. Anatole was also forced to turn in his passport at the Russian Embassy in Florence barring him from returning to Paris. Anatole never conceded his property rights over the diamonds.
The diamonds would play an important part in the return of the Second Empire. In November 1848 Mathilde placed Anatole’s diamonds as collateral for a bank loan of FF 500,000 with the proceeds given to her cousin, Louis-Napoleon, in his bid to win election for the Presidency of France. The Bonapartes were returned to power and Mathilde was elevated to the second most important lady of the Second Empire under Napoleon III. For his part, Anatole would never see the return of his diamonds, which were later sold at auction in 1904, or restitution of the promised dowry. Although in the art world Demidoff provenance would come to signify the highest quality for collectors such as the Vanderbilts, Carnegies, and Rothschilds, Anatole’s political contribution in the important events that returned the Bonapartes to power would remain untold in the historical record.
The story of Anatole and Mathilde begins as a fairy tale. They married for love as Mathilde recounts in her personal correspondence to her close friends. They shared a passionate interest and deep knowledge of art that resulted in important commissions and additions to the Demidoff collections. However, the King of Westphalia’s inability to honour his obligation towards his daughter’s dowry sowed the seeds of the union’s dissolution. The situation was compounded when Jérôme forced Mathilde to plead for additional monies for him. In addition, Anatole’s open and brash love for Valentine was intolerable for the independent and emancipated Mathilde. After the separation terms were pronounced by the imperial tribunal, Anatole mounted a vigorous, open, and relentless legal challenge against Mathilde to secure the return of his property and restitution of his dowry. Mathilde responded by mobilising her circle of important literary friends to print cruel and personal attacks in the media against Anatole. These widely circulated attacks unfairly and negatively tainted Anatole and the contribution of the Demidoffs to this day.
REFERENCES
Atteridge, A. H. (1909). Napoleon's Brothers. London, Methuan & Co. 570 p.
Beau, A. (2003). Biographical Notes about People near Talleyrand // Les Amis-Talleyrand, Association Française. web: www.amis-talleyrand.asso.fr 2003.
Beau, A (1989). Beauregard et les châtelains de Valencay, Paris // Unpublished Article P.1 - 4.
Blanchard, I. (1989). Russia's 'Age of Silver' in the Eighteenth Century. London, Routledge. 355 p.
Boettger, T. (2003). La Descendance d'Alexandre Andreievitch, 1er Prince Bariantsky. web: www.geocities.com/tfboettger/russian/princes.htm 2003.
Boettger, T. (2003). Russia Nobility Genealogy - Princes. web: www.geocities.com/ tfboettger.htm 2003.
Bonaparte, M. (1840). Original Correspondence of Mathilde Bonaparte to a Friend dated 10 September 1840. Property of the Author.
Brandel, F. de. (2001). Les plus belles perles du Gotha // Princes d'Europe & d'Allieurs: 2 P. 38 - 39.
Brookner, A. (1997). Soundings. London, The Harvill Press. 214 p.
Brookner, A. (2000). Romanticism and Its Discontents. London, Viking. 183 p.
Bruce, E. (1996). Napoleon & Josephine, An Improbable Marriage. London, Phoenix, a division of Orion Books, Ltd. 510 p.
Cars, J. des (1996). La Princesse Mathilde. Paris, Librairie Academique Perrin. 495 p.
Conservateur, e. M. d. S. (1829). Mémoires et Souvenirs d'un Pair de France. Paris, Tenon, Libraire-Editeur. Vol. 2 299 p.
Demidoff, A. de. (1840). Voyage dans la Russie Méridionale et la Crimée. Paris, Ernest Bourdin et Cie. Editeurs. 621 p.
E.Dentu (1861). Mémoires du Roi Jerome et de La Reine Catherine. Paris, Libraire de la Société des Gens de Lettres. Vol. 1 486 p.
E.Dentu (1866). Mémoires du Roi Jerome et de la Reine Catherine. Paris, Libraire de la Société des Gens de Lettres. Vol. 7 559 p.
Central State Archives of Ancient Acts, Demidov Fond 1267, Opis 2710, Box 5, Page 78-82, 406-408.
Iauzanne, A. (2002). “Les français à l'heure anglaise: l'anglo-manie de Louis XV a Louis Philippe.” // Arobase: journal des lettres & sciences humaines 3(2): P. 1-13.
Janin, J. (1839). Voyage en Italie. Paris, Ernest Bourdin et Cie. 320 p.
Kauffmann, J-P. (1999). The Dark Room at Longwood, A Voyage to St. Helena. London, Harvill Press. 243 p.
Kulture, A. G. d. (1857). La Sainte Russie. Paris, Garniers Freres. 262 p.
Mergier-Bourdeix (1973). Jules Janin, 735 Lettres à sa femme, Tome 1, lettres 1 a 248 (1842-1850). Paris & Evanston, Librairie C. Klincksieck. Vol. 1 730 p.
Noon, P. (2003). Constable to Delacroix, British Art and the French Romantics. London, Tate Publishing. 283 p.
Perron, M. C. du (1953). La Princesse Mathilde, un Règne Féminin sous le Second Empire. Paris, Amiot Dumont. 298 p.
Scarisbrick, D. (1995). Chaumet, Master Jewellers since 1780. Paris, Alain de Gourcuff Editeur. 366 p.
Schom, A. (1992). One Hundred Days, Napoleon's Road to Waterloo. London, Oxford University Press. 321 p.
Seymour, B. (1996). Lola Montez, A Life. New Haven and London, Yale University Press. 400 p.
Tonini, L., a cura di. (1991). I Demidoff a Firenze e in Toscana. I Demidoff a Firenze e in Toscana, Florence, Italy, Leo S. Olschki. 331 p.