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Lot Essay
This grand pair of fauteuils reflect the extent of Napoleon’s imperial ambitions and their lasting impact on French royal taste. Commissioned for the apartments of Empress Marie Louise (1791-1847) in the Palazzo de Monte Cavallo (the present-day Palazzo Quirinale), they were later placed the Tuileries in the reception room of Marie-Thérèse of France, duchesse d’Angoulême (1778-1851) and daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.
This pair of fauteuils are by the Parisian menuisier Pierre-Benoit Marcion (1769-1840), one of the principal suppliers of furniture to Napoleon I. The fauteuils are typical of Marcion’s style and form part of a large commission to furnish the Palazzo Quirinale in Rome which was renamed the Palazzo de Monte Cavallo. Fixated by the history of the Roman Empire and its dominance of Europe, Napoleon intended to make the Palazzo his principal residence outside Paris and Marcion provided much of the furniture, in high Empire style. These fauteuils relate to furniture supplied by Marcion to other imperial residences, particularly and perhaps ironically including the seat furniture of the Salon d’Abdication in the château de Fontainebleau. The chairs in this room, faithfully recreated in Paul Delaroche’s famous portrait of Napoleon at his abdication, share the same arm supports as well as the carved decoration on the seat-rail and legs.
As the inventory labels explain, these fauteuils were delivered to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife. Much like the establishment of the Palazzo Quirinale as an imperial seat, Napoleon’s marriage to Marie-Louise, daughter of the Austrian Emperor, was made to reflect his influence and power across the European continent. At Napoleon’s fall in 1814 the fauteuils returned to France and by 1826 they were recorded in the inventory of the Palais des Tuileries in the salon de reception of the Duchesse d’Angoulême. Marie-Thérèse of France was the daughter and only surviving child of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI; she married her first cousin, the duc d’Angoulême and when his father became Charles X in 1824, Marie-Thérèse became Dauphine of France. At Charles X’s fall in 1830 Marie-Thérèse went into exile in Austria where she had spent her youth.
This pair of fauteuils are by the Parisian menuisier Pierre-Benoit Marcion (1769-1840), one of the principal suppliers of furniture to Napoleon I. The fauteuils are typical of Marcion’s style and form part of a large commission to furnish the Palazzo Quirinale in Rome which was renamed the Palazzo de Monte Cavallo. Fixated by the history of the Roman Empire and its dominance of Europe, Napoleon intended to make the Palazzo his principal residence outside Paris and Marcion provided much of the furniture, in high Empire style. These fauteuils relate to furniture supplied by Marcion to other imperial residences, particularly and perhaps ironically including the seat furniture of the Salon d’Abdication in the château de Fontainebleau. The chairs in this room, faithfully recreated in Paul Delaroche’s famous portrait of Napoleon at his abdication, share the same arm supports as well as the carved decoration on the seat-rail and legs.
As the inventory labels explain, these fauteuils were delivered to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife. Much like the establishment of the Palazzo Quirinale as an imperial seat, Napoleon’s marriage to Marie-Louise, daughter of the Austrian Emperor, was made to reflect his influence and power across the European continent. At Napoleon’s fall in 1814 the fauteuils returned to France and by 1826 they were recorded in the inventory of the Palais des Tuileries in the salon de reception of the Duchesse d’Angoulême. Marie-Thérèse of France was the daughter and only surviving child of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI; she married her first cousin, the duc d’Angoulême and when his father became Charles X in 1824, Marie-Thérèse became Dauphine of France. At Charles X’s fall in 1830 Marie-Thérèse went into exile in Austria where she had spent her youth.