Imperial splendour... in miniature - two portraits by Jean-Baptiste Fortuné de Fournier, after Winterhalter, 1857

 

The Empress Eugénie and Emperor Napoléon III. Miniatures on ivory: 22 x 15cm / 8.66 x 5.90 inches. The emperor's portrait is signed and dated. The condition of the pair is regrettable, especially as they are remarkably accurate copies of Winterhalter's portraits of the imperial couple. The original paintings, official state portraits of which dozens of copies were made, were believed lost in the burning of the Tuileries Palace in 1871.

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A view, also by Fortuné de Fournier, showing the actual portrait of the empress in situ in the Tuileries. (while I don't know this for certain, it seems likely that its pendant was hanging opposite, out of view in the watercolor.) On the wall to the right of the empress' portrait are Gérard's portraits of the emperor's parents, Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais, the latter shown with the couple's firstborn son, Napoléon Louis Charles Bonaparte, who died at the age of only four. Through the doorway can be caught a glimpse of the 1812 David portrait of Napoléon I in his study at the Tuileries. A bust of the latter is just visible at left, while one of his nephew can be seen on the console beneath the Winterhalter portrait of his wife.

A beautiful image of the empress, very true to the original portrait, and astonishing in its subtlety, considering that the entire miniature is less than six inches across.

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Jean-Baptiste Fortuné de Fournier (16 May 1797, Nice - 17 February 1864, Paris), French painter. A watercolorist and miniaturist, he is mainly remembered for his portrayals of the interiors of French imperial residences, particularly Saint-Cloud, Fontainebleau, and the Tuileries. His works are valuable documents for the study of decorative arts under the Second Empire, as they depict the contemporary décor of buildings which, for the most part, have now disappeared.