PORTRAIT OF ELISA BACIOCCHI, GREAT DUCHESS OF TUSCANY

	http://www.napoleon.org/en/gallery/painting/index.asp Artist FRANQUE Joseph (1774-1833) Date ca. 1812 Technique oil on canvas Dimensions H. 83.5 cm; W. 70.4 cm Where held Bibliothèque Paul Marmottan, Boulogne-Billancourt  Credits © Brigdeman Art Library - Service presse/musée Marmottan Monet  Description Elisa Baciocchi, née Elisa Bonaparte, was the eldest  of Napoleon's three sisters, who all became imperial  princesses after their brother's coronation. Elisa was  born in 1777 in Ajaccio, and she married army officer  Félix Baciocchi in 1797. In 1805, she became Princess  of Piombino and Lucca, then Grand-Duchess of Tuscany  in 1809. Her arrival in Tuscany attracted a growing  number of French people, who, together with the Italians,  formed a Court around their new ruler, similar to the one  at the Tuileries. Joseph Franque probably painted this  portrait of Elisa and another one of Félix during his  visit to Florence around 1812. Joseph Franque here depicts the young ruler in a bust  portrait against an ochre background. She is wearing  a dark blue bodice with gold embroidery and a gauze  collar, topped with a purple shawl edged with a floral  design. On her head is a tiara set with a diamond,  gemstones and a cameo, and in her left hand she  is holding a notebook. In this naturalistic portrait, the artist depicts Elisa  as being more ‘homely' than her sister Pauline, whose  beauty was renowned throughout the Empire. On show  here is Princess Elisa the political ruler (she had reformed  the clergy and founded charities) and cultural leader.  She was a friend of the arts and supported the “Académie  des Marbres de Carrare”. She also founded a “Banque  élisienne” (The Elisa Bank) and an academy directed by  sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini, where Franque became  Professor of Drawing in 1813. At the fall of the Great-Duchy,  Franque moved to Naples where he put himself (briefly) in  the service of Caroline Bonaparte, who had married  Joachim Murat. In March 1814, Elisa was forced into exile, residing in  France, Italy (Bologna) and Austria (Gratz, with her  brother Jérôme), before finally being permitted to live  permanently in Bologna. As a consequence of her brother's return from Elba in  March 1815, she was put under house arrest in Austria  until March 1816, whereupon she was permitted to  move to Trieste, where she died in 1820, aged 43. Joseph Franque (1774-1833) was the twin brother of  Jean-Pierre Franque (1774-1860), also a famous  painter of the beginning of the nineteenth century  (Allegory on the state of France before the return  from Egypt). Both were pupils of David. Gabrielle de Roincé Curator of the Bibliothèque Paul Marmottan This portrait is currently on show in the exhibition  “Napoleon's Sisters, Three Italian Destinies”, at  the Musée Marmottan-Monet, from 3 October, 2013,  to 26 January, 2014. Another exhibition on the same  subject is also on show at the Bibliothèque Marmottan  in Boulogne-Billancourt.