Family life before Napoleon returned from elba

The Empress Josephine receives Czar Alexander lst at Malmaison by Hector Viger, date around 1864

Is the painting a fake?

It was created 50 years after the event  depicted.  All the people shown - bar one - are dead. I do not know who commissioned it but we do know exactly when the event took place. Napoleon has abdicated on 31st March 1814 will soon be on his way to Elba. 

Europe took every advantage of the peace and people flocked to Paris, including Czar Alexander lst of Russia who took Josephine under his wing and assured her that the returning king, the brother of the one who died under the guillotine at the beginning of the French Revolution, will not take revenge on any of the people who treated his family so badly.

Josephine introduces her children, Hortense and Eugene, to the Czar of Russia. Beside her stand Hortense’s two sons.  One will die at a young age and one will become the second Emperor of the French.

Hortense benefitted from the Czar’s interest.  He persuaded the new King to grant her a new title, Duchess of St. Leu, together with a chateau and a substantial annual payment. That money will enable Hortense to continue to support the Napoleonic Legend long after his death.

Josephine had little time to enjoy this peaceful time without the restrictions Napoleon had placed on her after their divorce.  Josephine, Empress of the French, died on 29th May with her children around her and the Czar’s doctor in attendance.

This lovely painting is not a fake but it is most certainly a vanity project, showing all the characters in the best possible light.  Does that matter? In a way it does, because it idealises the past. There is certainly something rotten in this new monarchy.