Lot Essay
This canapé is of a very distinguished model with undoubted associations with the French imperial family but of which the commmissioning and early history is unknown. There are several variants on the basic design of which all incorporate the imperial eagle and wreath in the pediments. The main difference amongst them is whether they have a segmental or a triangular pediment. The design was reproduced by Dionisio and/or Lorenzo Santi in their Modèles de Meubles, 1821, pl.XLI, no.6.
The label on the underside of this canapé suggests that it belonged to Joachim Murat (1771-1815), husband of Napoleon's sister Caroline and King of Naples until he was shot in 1815. Like all such labels there is likely to be some truth in this one and it is important that it is the only piece from the suites that has a written hint of an early 19th Century Italian provenance. On the limited evidence available it seems likely that the suites were dispersed among the imperial family and the Murat label points in this case to San Donato.
The only member of the imperial family who is known for certain to have owned variants of the suite is Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch (1763-1839). His large auction sale in Paris in 1816 incorporated three types of which one had arched pediments and two had triangular. William Beckford subsequently owned part of a suite which is likely to have been in the Fesch sale. It is illustrated in J.Rutter's Delineations of Fonthill, 1823, in The Grand Drawing Room. The Fonthill examples were of a distinctive variant with the griffins' heads of the arms projecting above the arm-rests rather than being fitted in below them, as here.
There is no evidence that the present lot is not part of the suites owned by Cardinal Fesch. It is simply that the Murat label implies an Italian provenance and suites that probably did not belong to Fesch are known to have been in that country. In the Demidoff sale in 1880 (loc.cit.) there were six lots that incorporated chairs, fauteuils and stools of the type, lots 5, 143, 144, 1082, 1083 and 1084. A watercolour by Fortuné de Fournier, dated 1841, shows part of a suite around the walls of the Ballroom at San Donato. The settee in the picture is apparently of exactly the same arm and pediment type as the present lot. Lot 143 was the Ballroom canapés. This provides another small piece of evidence that this canapé was at San Donato; the differences between the suite in that watercolour and those at Fonthill are sufficiently obvious from the two pictures to support this theory. The San Donato watercolour was sold by Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, Villa Demidoff, Pratolino, Sotheby's house sale, 21-24 April 1969, lot 282. It is now in the Pitti Palace and is illustrated in A.Gonzales-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto (Roma e Il Regno delle Due Sicilie), Milan, 1984, vol.II, p.49, fig.72.
It is the earlier history of the Demidoff examples that is so tantalising. Prince Paul Demidoff was married to Mathilde, the daughter of Napoleon's brother Jérome (1784-1860), King of Westphalia. This seems to be a likely source. One of the traditions associated with this suite is that part of it accompanied Napoleon to Elba. He is thought not to have taken anything of his own so he may have borrowed this furniture from his brother. The Murat label on this canapé gives yet another possibility. The scanty evidence points to this seat furniture being several suites belonging to different members of the Imperial family. The Italian connection suggests that this particular item was at San Donato.
We are grateful to Miss Lucy Wood for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.
The label on the underside of this canapé suggests that it belonged to Joachim Murat (1771-1815), husband of Napoleon's sister Caroline and King of Naples until he was shot in 1815. Like all such labels there is likely to be some truth in this one and it is important that it is the only piece from the suites that has a written hint of an early 19th Century Italian provenance. On the limited evidence available it seems likely that the suites were dispersed among the imperial family and the Murat label points in this case to San Donato.
The only member of the imperial family who is known for certain to have owned variants of the suite is Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch (1763-1839). His large auction sale in Paris in 1816 incorporated three types of which one had arched pediments and two had triangular. William Beckford subsequently owned part of a suite which is likely to have been in the Fesch sale. It is illustrated in J.Rutter's Delineations of Fonthill, 1823, in The Grand Drawing Room. The Fonthill examples were of a distinctive variant with the griffins' heads of the arms projecting above the arm-rests rather than being fitted in below them, as here.
There is no evidence that the present lot is not part of the suites owned by Cardinal Fesch. It is simply that the Murat label implies an Italian provenance and suites that probably did not belong to Fesch are known to have been in that country. In the Demidoff sale in 1880 (loc.cit.) there were six lots that incorporated chairs, fauteuils and stools of the type, lots 5, 143, 144, 1082, 1083 and 1084. A watercolour by Fortuné de Fournier, dated 1841, shows part of a suite around the walls of the Ballroom at San Donato. The settee in the picture is apparently of exactly the same arm and pediment type as the present lot. Lot 143 was the Ballroom canapés. This provides another small piece of evidence that this canapé was at San Donato; the differences between the suite in that watercolour and those at Fonthill are sufficiently obvious from the two pictures to support this theory. The San Donato watercolour was sold by Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, Villa Demidoff, Pratolino, Sotheby's house sale, 21-24 April 1969, lot 282. It is now in the Pitti Palace and is illustrated in A.Gonzales-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto (Roma e Il Regno delle Due Sicilie), Milan, 1984, vol.II, p.49, fig.72.
It is the earlier history of the Demidoff examples that is so tantalising. Prince Paul Demidoff was married to Mathilde, the daughter of Napoleon's brother Jérome (1784-1860), King of Westphalia. This seems to be a likely source. One of the traditions associated with this suite is that part of it accompanied Napoleon to Elba. He is thought not to have taken anything of his own so he may have borrowed this furniture from his brother. The Murat label on this canapé gives yet another possibility. The scanty evidence points to this seat furniture being several suites belonging to different members of the Imperial family. The Italian connection suggests that this particular item was at San Donato.
We are grateful to Miss Lucy Wood for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.