DE BEAUHARNAIS JOSEPHINE: (1763-1814)

DE BEAUHARNAIS JOSEPHINE: (1763-1814) Empress Consort of the French 1804-10, the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. A good L.S., Josephine, one page, slim oblong 8vo, Paris, 27th January 1808, to [Emmanuel Crétet] the Minister of the Interior, in French. The Empress writes to seek assistance for the painter François Gérard, explaining ´Le logement qu´il occupe étant trop resserré pour les ouvrages considérables dont il est chargé par le gouvernement, il désirerait y joindre une piecè actuellement vacante par le décès du Sr. Coquille´ (Translation: ´As his current accommodation is too small for the considerable works he has been commissioned to produce by the government, he would like to add a room that is currently vacant following the death of Mr Coquille´) and concluding by remarking ´Je prends beaucoup d´intérêt à cet artiste et je serais charmée qu´il vous fût possible de faire quelque chose en sa faveur´ (Translation: ´I take a great interest in this artist and would be delighted if you could do something on his behalf´). With blank integral leaf. The lower right corner features the oval stamp of the Crawford Collection. Very slightly irregularly trimmed to the lower edge, VG
Emmanuel Crétet (1747-1809) Comte de Champmol. French merchant, financier and politician who served as Interior Minister of France 1807-09. Crétat was also the first governor of the Banque de France 1806-07.
François Gérard (1770-1837) Baron Gérard. French painter who became one of the leading painters of the First French Empire (1804-15) and the Bourbon Restoration (1815-30). Gérard was the Court painter to Emperor Napoleon, who made the artist a Baron of the Empire in 1809. Known as ´the painter of kings, the king of painters´, Gérard was indeed the portraitist of choice for every European royal family and his salon, one of the most celebrated of its time, welcomed the era’s most eminent figures.
Alexander Lindsay (1812-1880) 25th Earl of Crawford. Scottish peer, art historian and collector.