L'Impératrice chez elle - Salon de l’impératrice Eugénie aux Tuileries, by Giuseppe Castiglione, 1868

 

In the collection of the Liria Palace in Madrid, as are so many of the former belongings of the empress, part of the vast treasure trove of the dukes of Alba, this smallish painting - roughly two by three feet - has always intrigued me. I was so glad to finally come across a large image file, to be able to better examine all the details, the precisely rendered contents of the empress' private space.

I like the tiny view of the Tuileries gardens, glimpsed from the window. The bust is likely of Marie Antoinette, for whom the empress held a great fascination.

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Giuseppe Castiglione (1829, Naples - 1908, Paris), Italian painter, most known for his genre paintings and portraits. He moved to Paris early in his career - it is likely that he also studied there - and began to show his paintings both in the French capital and Turin. He became a member of the Sociétaire des Artistes and was awarded an honorable mention at the 1861 Salon. He earned a medal at the Salon of 1869, as well as a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1900; he had been decorated with the Légion d’honneur seven years previously.