Empire – that is the name given by art historians to an epoch in which the work of artists and craftsmen was inspired by ancient models. It coincides with the time of Napoleon’s rule and is considered to have been between 1799 and 1815. This epoch should not be confused with Neoclassicism. While Neoclassicism was a Europe-wide phenomenon that draw inspiration mainly from the art and culture of ancient Greece, the Empire style is linked to the expansion of France. The Empire style therefore imitates Egyptian art just as much as Roman art. The most important thing to remember here is that the Empire style was used systematically to impress others. It was intended to signal to observers that Napoleon, his family, and his representatives were following in the footsteps of powerful ancient rulers, and could even exceed them in terms of the influence they wielded.
The Duchess of Guastalla, Paoletta Bonaparte, was born in Corsica in 1780, and knew very well how to impress people with her beauty. To this day, anybody visiting Villa Borghese can get an idea of how beautiful she was: The sculptor Antonio Canova immortalized her, nude, as “Venus Victrix”.
Napoleon Bonaparte used his younger sister Pauline for his own ends. In 1797, when she had just turned 17, he married her to a friend of his, a General whom, four years later, he sent to Saint-Domingue to quell the slave uprising. Pauline accompanied her husband and returned with his dead body – like more than 25,000 of his men, Leclerc had fallen victim to yellow fever. Before the end of his sister’s year of mourning, which was customary at the time, Napoleon married her to Camillo Borghese, a member of high Roman nobility.
Was it for one of these weddings that Napoleon ordered a very special piece of jewellery made for Pauline? We do not know that, just like we still do not have the last piece of evidence to prove that the gold necklace and bracelet were actually made for Pauline.
Pauline – affectionately called Paulette by her relatives – must have been a very independent woman. Although she obediently married the men her brother lined up for her, she is not said to have remained faithful to them – although it is very unlikely that all of the stories circulating about her are true.
So let’s stick to the facts we can definitely prove. Pauline was strikingly beautiful, that much is clear from all of her paintings. And she was proud of her body. How else would she have come up with the idea of posing naked for Antonio Canova? He was considered “the” sculptor of the time. He was said not only to match the great artists of antiquity, but to exceed them. His Venus Victrix caused a scandal. An upstanding lady of society had posed naked for a piece of art! Shocking! It is said that Canova had initially wanted to depict Pauline, fully clothed, as the virginal Diana, and that it was actually Pauline herself who insisted on her being represented as Venus!
In the midst of this scandal, we should not forget that her big brother Napoleon had also posed naked for Canova shortly beforehand as Mars the bringer of peace, who, in Roman mythology, is closely connected to the triumphant Venus...