Princess Borghese, Princess and Duchess of Guastalla
Pronunciation:
As beautiful as it is possible to be
, Pauline Bonaparte, born on October 20, 1780 in the family home on rue Malerba in Ajaccio , Corsica, was most famous for her love affairs.
After refusing her hand in marriage to Jean-Andoche Junot and the Conventionnel Louis-Marie-Stanislas Fréron, Napoleon Bonaparte granted it in 1797 to Charles Victor Emmanuel Leclerc, one of his finest officers. The religious marriage took place on June 14 in Mombello, near Milan [Milano].
In 1801, Pauline accompanied her husband when he led the expedition to Saint-Domingue. Although she had proved a particularly unfaithful wife, she nonetheless showed spectacular despair when he succumbed to yellow fever on November 1, 1802.
Pauline remarried to the wealthy Prince Camille Borghese on November 6, 1803, and led a merry life in Paris for a few years, collecting lovers.
When the bad times came, she didn't hesitate to follow her brother to Elba where she became his invaluable collaborator, to sacrifice her diamonds to him during the Hundred Days, or to ask − unsuccessfully, as England objected − to share his exile on St. Helena.
After the final fall of the Empire, she moved to Rome [Roma], to the Villa Borghese, where she resumed her gallant life.
Eventually, however, she reconciled with her husband and settled in Florence [Firenze] , Tuscany, where she died without issue on June 9, 1825. Her coffin was transported to Rome [Roma] and laid to rest in the Cappella Paolina of Rome's Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
"Pauline Borghese" (detail), sculpture by Antonio Canova (Possagno 1757 - Venice 1822).
The sculptor Antonio Canova immortalized Pauline Borghese's beauty in a sublime marble Venus, reclining on a divan, simply dressed in a sheet covering her legs...
Adresse
39, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Paris 8ème arrondissement
Pauline Bonaparte, Princess Borghese, owned the Hôtel de Charost from 1803 to 1815. She carried out major transformations there.Other portraits
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"Marie-Pauline Bonaparte, Princess Borghese", by Robert Lefèvre (Bayeux 1755 - Paris 1830).
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"Pauline Bonaparte", portrait painted 1809 by Robert Lefèvre.
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"Pauline Bonaparte", painted 1806 by Louise Marie Jeanne Hersent born Mauduit (Paris 1784 - Paris 1862).
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"Pauline Bonaparte". Nineteenth century French school.
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"Pauline Bonaparte, Princess Borghese, Duchess of Guastalla", painted 1806 by François Joseph Kinson (Bruges 1771 - Bruges 1839).