Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire

Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire PDF Author: Flora Fraser
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307277933
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
From acclaimed biographer Flora Fraser, the brilliant life of Napoleon's favorite sister, with color photos, paintings, and illustrations. Considered by many in Europe to be the most beautiful woman at the turn of the nineteenth century, Pauline Bonaparte Borghese shocked the continent with the boldness of her love affairs, her opulent wardrobe and jewels, her decision to pose nearly nude for Canova's sculpture, and her rumored incestuous relationship with her brother, the Emperor Napoleon—the only man to whom she was loyal. When Napoleon was exiled to Elba, Pauline was the only sibling to follow him there, and after the final defeat at Waterloo she begged to join him at Saint Helena. In Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire, Flora Fraser casts new light on the Napoleonic era and crafts a dynamic, vivid portrait of a mesmerizing woman.

Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire

Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire PDF Author: Flora Fraser
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307277933
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 334

Get Book Here

Book Description
From acclaimed biographer Flora Fraser, the brilliant life of Napoleon's favorite sister, with color photos, paintings, and illustrations. Considered by many in Europe to be the most beautiful woman at the turn of the nineteenth century, Pauline Bonaparte Borghese shocked the continent with the boldness of her love affairs, her opulent wardrobe and jewels, her decision to pose nearly nude for Canova's sculpture, and her rumored incestuous relationship with her brother, the Emperor Napoleon—the only man to whom she was loyal. When Napoleon was exiled to Elba, Pauline was the only sibling to follow him there, and after the final defeat at Waterloo she begged to join him at Saint Helena. In Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire, Flora Fraser casts new light on the Napoleonic era and crafts a dynamic, vivid portrait of a mesmerizing woman.

Venus of Empire

Venus of Empire PDF Author: Flora Fraser
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408832550
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
'Fraser cleverly contrasts Pauline's callous offloading of successive lovers ... The success of a biography of an un-improving subject like this is whether or not we miss them at its close ... Pauline was clearly irresistible company' Literary Review Celebrated for her looks, notorious for her passions, immortalised by Antonio Canova's statue and always deeply loyal to her brother, Pauline Bonaparte Borghese is a fascinating figure. At the turn of the nineteenth century she was considered by many to be the most beautiful woman in Europe. She shocked the continent with the boldness of her love affairs, her opulent wardrobe and jewels and, most famously, her decision to pose nearly nude for Canova's sculpture, which has been replicated in countless ways through the years. But just as remarkable for Pauline's private life was her fidelity to the emperor (if not to her husbands). She was witness to Napoleon's great victories in Italy, and she was often with him and her rival for his loyalty, the Empress Josephine, at Malmaison. When he was exiled to Elba, Pauline was the only sibling to follow him there, and after Waterloo she begged to be allowed to join him at Saint Helena. No biographer has gone so deeply into the sources or so closely examined one of the seminal relationships of the man who shaped modern Europe. In Venus of Empire, Flora Fraser casts new light on the Napoleonic era while crafting a dynamic, vivid portrait of mesmerising woman.

Beloved Emma

Beloved Emma PDF Author: Flora Fraser
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408832569
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 586

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Book Description
'Bewitchingly readable, authoritative' The Times 'At last, in Flora Fraser, Lady Hamilton has a biographer able to capture both the woman and her times' Amanda Foreman Born in the eighteenth century, Emma Hamilton was a woman ahead of her time. Her rise to fame and fortune seemed unstoppable – until she began her infamous love affair with Admiral Lord Nelson. Beloved Emma follows Emma Hamilton's journey from Liverpool to London and her life as an artist's assistant, through glittering successes as the wife of Sir William Hamilton in Naples, and that notorious romance with Nelson, to her painful descent from the heights of fame to an early death in Calais. Flora Fraser captures the energy, purpose and sexuality that drove this extraordinary woman through her tumultuous life.

The Unruly Queen

The Unruly Queen PDF Author: Flora Fraser
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408832542
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 701

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Book Description
'Splendid ... her book does justice to a fascinating woman who was tragic, brave, likable, humorous, and indeed, unruly' Spectator 'Written with elegance, wit and a narrative zest that novelists might envy' Economist At the heart of the extravagant Regency period – nine scandalous, politically fascinating years from 1811 to 1820 – lies the bitter mismatch between the Prince and Princess of Wales. The Prince Regent, later George IV, separated privately from Caroline of Brunswick within a year of their marriage in 1795. The couple remained separated until Queen Caroline's death in 1821, but the mockery of their marriage resisted the most strenuous efforts to dissolve it. Barred from the Regent's court, Queen Caroline travelled through Europe with a small court of her own. The story of The Unruly Queen – a long, courageous fight by an extraordinary individual to see justice done in the face of overbearing authority – is compellingly told by Flora Fraser. This astonishing book culminates with the Queen's House of Lords trial for adultery and exclusion from her bigamous husband's coronation.

Napoleon's Other Wife

Napoleon's Other Wife PDF Author: Deborah Jay
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780993403002
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description


Georgiana

Georgiana PDF Author: Amanda Foreman
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375753834
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 514

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Book Description
The winner of Britain's prestigious Whitbread Prize and a bestseller there for months, this wonderfully readable biography offers a rich, rollicking picture of late-eighteenth-century British aristocracy and the intimate story of a woman who for a time was its undisputed leader. Lady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was nearly as famous in her day. In 1774, at the age of seventeen, Georgiana achieved immediate celebrity by marrying one of England's richest and most influential aristocrats, the Duke of Devonshire. Launched into a world of wealth and power, she quickly became the queen of fashionable society, adored by the Prince of Wales, a dear friend of Marie-Antoinette, and leader of the most important salon of her time. Not content with the role of society hostess, she used her connections to enter politics, eventually becoming more influential than most of the men who held office. Her good works and social exploits made her loved by the multitudes, but Georgiana's public success, like Diana's, concealed a personal life that was fraught with suffering. The Duke of Devonshire was unimpressed by his wife's legendary charms, preferring instead those of her closest friend, a woman with whom Georgiana herself was rumored to be on intimate terms. For over twenty years, the three lived together in a jealous and uneasy ménage à trois, during which time both women bore the Duke's children—as well as those of other men. Foreman's descriptions of Georgiana's uncontrollable gambling, all- night drinking, drug taking, and love affairs with the leading politicians of the day give us fascinating insight into the lives of the British aristocracy in the era of the madness of King George III, the American and French revolutions, and the defeat of Napoleon. A gifted young historian whom critics are already likening to Antonia Fraser, Amanda Foreman draws on a wealth of fresh research and writes colorfully and penetratingly about the fascinating Georgiana, whose struggle against her own weaknesses, whose great beauty and flamboyance, and whose determination to play a part in the affairs of the world make her a vibrant, astonishingly contemporary figure.

The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte

The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Napoleon's Egypt

Napoleon's Egypt PDF Author: Juan Cole
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 0230607411
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
In this vivid and timely history, Juan Cole tells the story of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. Revealing the young general's reasons for leading the expedition against Egypt in 1798 and showcasing his fascinating views of the Orient, Cole delves into the psychology of the military titan and his entourage. He paints a multi-faceted portrait of the daily travails of the soldiers in Napoleon's army, including how they imagined Egypt, how their expectations differed from what they found, and how they grappled with military challenges in a foreign land. Cole ultimately reveals how Napoleon's invasion, the first modern attempt to invade the Arab world, invented and crystallized the rhetoric of liberal imperialism.

Making a Prince's Museum

Making a Prince's Museum PDF Author: Carole Paul
Publisher: Getty Publications
ISBN: 9780892365395
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
In 1775 Prince Marcantonio Borghese IV and the architect Antonio Asprucci embarked upon a decorative renovation of the Villa Borghese. Initially their attention focused on the Casino, the principal building at the villa, which had always been a semi-public museum. By 1625 it housed much of the Borghese's outstanding collection of sculpture. Integrating this statuary with vast baroque ceiling paintings and richly ornamented surfaces, Asprucci created a dazzling and unified homage to the Borghese family, portraying its legendary ancestors as well as its newly born heir. In this book, Carole Paul reads the inventive decorative program as a set of exemplary scenes for the education of the ideal Borghese prince. Her wide-ranging essay also situates the Villa Borghese among the sumptuous palaces and suburban villas of Rome's collectors of antiquities and outlines the renovated Casino's pivotal role in the historic transition from the princely collection to the public museum. Rounding out this volume is a catalog of the Getty Research Institute's fifty-nine drawings for the refurbishing of the Villa Borghese and Alberta Campitelli's discussion of sketches for the short-lived Museo di Gabii, the Villa's other antiquities museum.

Hottentot Venus

Hottentot Venus PDF Author: Barbara Chase-Riboud
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307426289
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
It is Paris, 1815. An extraordinarily shaped South African girl known as the Hottentot Venus, dressed only in feathers and beads, swings from a crystal chandelier in the duchess of Berry’s ballroom. Below her, the audience shouts insults and pornographic obscenities. Among these spectators is Napoleon’s physician and the most famous naturalist in Europe, the Baron George Cuvier, whose encounter with her will inspire a theory of race that will change European science forever. Evoking the grand tradition of such “monster” tales as Frankenstein and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Barbara Chase Riboud, prize-winning author of the classic Sally Hemings, again gives voice to an “invisible” of history. In this powerful saga, Sarah Baartman, for more than 200 years known only as the mysterious lady in the glass cage, comes vividly and unforgettably to life.