The Napoleonic Museum in Rome
YET another museum has been opened in Rome, adding one more to the already long list. It is the Napoleonic Museum, housed in the palace of the late Count Giuseppe Primoli. Himself a direct descendant of Lucien Bonaparte, he had always kept in touch with Napoleonic studies and collected or inherited a mass of interesting relics and records, which by his will he left to the City of Rome as a public museum.
It is indeed fitting that such a museum should exist in Rome, for with no other city, except Paris, is the Bonaparte family so closely associated. The great Napoleon hit-mi.-1f was deeply imbued with and almost overawed by the idea and spirit of Rome, which exer- cised an irresistible fascination on him. When he had become Emperor, suppressed the Temporal Power, im- prisoned the Pope and annexed the Papal States, he wished to make Rome the second city of the Enii3ire and his principal residence after Paris ; he conferred on • his son the title of King of Rome, and planned vast schemes for the improvement of the city, many of which were actually carried out by Valadier, an architect after his own heart. Yet he never came to Rome, and failed to achieve any popularity with the Romans, who could not forgive his treatment of Pius VII.
But many members of his family found a haven of peace in Rome, both before and after his fall. There they dwelt for many years under the shadow and protection of the Papacy which their mighty kinsman had tried in vain to destroy. In 1810 "Madame Mere " settled in Rome and lived there until her death in 1836, in the handsome palace at the corner of the Corso and Piazza Venezia still known as the Palazzo Bonaparte. The Emperor's rebellious brother Lucien also settled in Rome, and was created Prince of Canino by the Pope. His son .Charles Lucien, filled with democratic ideas, was elected Presi- dent of the Roman Constituent Assembly in 1848-49, and sold his title for two baiocchi, to show his contempt for such baubles, a sale which Pius IX., on his return from Gaeta, annulled. One of Charles's sons became a Cardinal, while his four daughters all married into the Roman aristocracy. One of them, Countess Primoli, was the mother of the late Count Giuseppe, the founder of the Napoleonic collection. The divine Pauline also lived for many years in Rome, not too happily married to Prince Camillo Borghese, and sat for her portrait to many artists, including Canova, scandalizing the prudes by the skimpi- ness of the attire in which she posed. In spite of the un- happiness of her married life she never got over the delight of being a real princess, and at a fete at St. Cloud she had herself presented to Josephine as " La Princesse Borghese a Madame Bonaparte " ! Her sisters, she said to the Duchesse d'Abrantes, were dying with envy because she was the only princess au serieux of them all.
The Primoli collection is now exhibited on the ground floor rooms of the late Count's palace on the Tiber, under the curatorship of Sig. Diego Angel, an intimate friend of the testator and an expert on Napoleonic history. The beautiful large corner room is" devoted to the First Empire. The carpet, adorned with the Napoleonic eagle and bees, is the work of Roman weavers, who made it for the throne room of the Quirinal, where Napoleon intended to reside. Among the portraits there are several of the Emperor by Houdon and a beautiful coloured print by Bartolozzi. Madame Mere appears in all her glory in a fine painting by Lefevre, and there is also a bust of her by Marin and a water-colour sketch painted a few days before her death by Princess Charlotte Bonaparte. Pauline is depicted by Canova and by an English artist named Kingston. A romantic interest attaches to the portrait of Charlotte Napoleon, daughter of Joseph, by Leopold Robert, who drowned himself in the Tiber on account of his unrequited love for the princess. There is a small and attractive tempera of the King of Rome—the last portrait extant—by Schiavonetti.
The furniture of the room comes from the Tuileries, whence it was brought to the Empress Eugenie in England after the fall of the Second Empire, and later presented by her to Count Primoli, to whom she was warmly attached. A curious drawing by one Chatillon shows Lucien playing backgammon on board a British warship with the captain, on his way to England, where he re- paired, after one of his quarrels with the Emperor, with other members of his family.. A curious portrait is that of the diplomat Mattel, who achieved unenviable faMe as one of the authors of the Treaty of Campoformio ; behind him a statue of Mercury is depicted holding Matters diplomatic pass. A small book-ease contains part of Napoleon's library at St. Helena : it includes French translations of Gibbon and of various classical historians, a copy of Quintus of Smyrna's Trojan War with a dedication from Lord Holland to Napoleon sent to him " with Lord Bathurst's permission," and a " Notice topographique, historique, statistique et mili- taire de Ste. Helene," dated Paris, 1815. The documents and autographs are innumerable ; perhaps the most inte- resting is the prods-verbal of Napoleon's marriage with Marie Louise, written on a sheet of common quarto paper and bearing the signatures of the bride and bridegroom, Madame Mere, Joseph, Louis, Pauline, Elise, &c., and of the Austrian Archdukes. A printed bulletin of the Battle of Waterloo, issued at Milan on June 28th, states that the glorious news had been brought by a special courier.
Perhaps the most beautiful object of all is the exquisite silver-gilt toilet set, presented to Princess Zenaide, King Joseph's daughter, on her marriage with her cousin Prince Joseph, a very perfect specimen of Empire work- manship. Several glass cases are filled with snuff-boxes (one left by Louis XVIII. when he fled from Paris and picked up by Napoleon on his arrival), miniatures, jewels, clocks, ornaments of all kinds, and in others Josephine's magnificent State robe of green velvet embroidered in gold, Hortense's purple robe, the Indian rug which covered the dying Napoleon at St. Helena, his silk cape with the Grand. Cross of the Legion of Honour, and Cardinal Bonaparte's red robe and hat are exhibited.
The Second Empire collection is hardly less interesting. Besides the excellent portraits of Napoleon III. and Eugenie by Winterhalter, there is a small bust of the Prince Imperial as a British artillery officer by Belt, and a very fine pastel of the Princess Mathilde by Besnard. In the room devoted to the Bonapartes in Rome is an excellent likeness of Count Primoli by Spadini.
• The whole collection is beautifully arranged by Sig. Angeli and gives one a curious sense of intimacy with that extraordinary family, whose members seem to live in their own accustomed surroundings ; there is none of the coldness of the typical museum. There is still a vast mass of manuscripts, engravings, and drawings to be arranged ; they will prove a mine for all who are interested in
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