Charlotte Bonaparte

Princess Charlotte
Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte in 1821, by Jacques-Louis David
Born	(1802-10-31)31 October 1802 Paris, France
Died	Sarzana, Kingdom of Sardinia
Burial	Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy
Spouse	Napoleon Louis Bonaparte
Full name Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte
House	Bonaparte
Father	Joseph Bonaparte
Mother	Julie Clary

View of Princess Charlotte's former residence, Bordentown, New Jersey

Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte (31 October 1802 – 2 March 1839) was the daughter of Joseph Bonaparte, the older brother of Emperor Napoleon I, and Julie Clary. Her mother was the sister of Désirée Clary, Napoleon's first love. Charlotte married her first cousin Napoleon Louis, the second son of Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais. She studied engraving and lithography in Paris with the artist Louis Léopold Robert, who is reputed to have fallen in love with her.

Biography

After her father was deposed in 1813 he moved to America and purchased "Point Breeze", an estate on the Delaware River near Bordentown, New Jersey. Bonaparte’s palatial house was filled with paintings and sculpture by such luminaries as Jacques-Louis David, Antonio Canova, Peter Paul Rubens, and Titian (Tiziano Vecelli). The surrounding park of 1,800 acres (7.3 km²) included landscaped gardens. Joseph Bonaparte played host to many of the national’s wealthiest and most cultivated citizens, and his art collection played a crucial role in transmitting high European taste to America.

Charlotte, known as the Countess de Survilliers, lived with her father in New Jersey from December 1821 to August 1824. While there she sketched numerous landscapes including Passaic Falls, her father's "Point Breeze" estate, the town of Lebanon, New Jersey, and others, some of which were engraved for the book "Picturesque American Scenes" by Joubert. Extant landscape drawings by her include Passaic Falls, a view near Tuckerton, New Jersey, and Schooley's Mountain. She also painted portraits (Cora Monges, 1822; Emilie Lacoste, 1823) and exhibited her work at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Charlotte, her sister Zénaide (1801–1854), and their mother were painted by the French artist François Gérard, while their mother was Queen of Spain. Another French artist, the well-known Jacques-Louis David, painted a portrait of the two sisters; it shows them reading a letter from Philadelphia sent by their father.

Death

Charlotte reportedly died in childbirth, aged 36. Her tomb is in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, and it says (paraphrased): Born Oct. 31, 1802, died 1839.

Titles

• Princess Charlotte Bonaparte, Infanta of Spain

Ancestry

Family of Charlotte Bonaparte

16. Sebastiano Nicola Buonaparte               8. Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte                       17. Maria Anna Tusoli               4. Carlo Maria Buonaparte                             18. Giuseppe Maria Paravicini               9. Maria Saveria Paravicini                       19. Maria Angela Salineri               2. Giuseppe Napoleone Buonaparte                                   20. Giovanni Agostino Ramolino               10. Giovanni Geronimo Ramolino                       21. Angela Maria Peri               5. Maria Letizia Ramolino                             22. Giuseppe Maria Pietrasanta               11. Angela Maria Pietrasanta                       23. Maria Giuseppa Malerba               1. Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte                                         24. Jacques Clary               12. Joseph Clary                       25. Catherine Barosse               6. François Clary                             26. François Ammoric               13. Françoise Agnès Ammoric                       27. Jeanne Boisson               3. Marie Julie Clary                                   28. Jean Louis Somis               14. Joseph Ignace Somis                       29. Françoise Bouchard               7. Françoise Rose Somis                             30. François Soucheiron               15. Catherine Rose Soucheiron                       31. Anne Cautier

Sources

• E. Benezit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs (1966), vol. 1, p. 754, and vol. 7, p. 279.

• Patricia Tyson Stroud, The Man Who Had Been King: The American Exile of Napoleon’s Brother Joseph (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), pp. 88–113.

• William H. Gerdts, Painting and Sculpture in New Jersey (Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand, 1964), p. 56.