Hortense de Beauharnais with her son Napoleon Charles Bonaparte (1806)

François Gérard: Hortense de Beauharnais with her son Napoleon Charles Bonaparte (detail)

Hortense de Beauharnais was the daughter of Empress Josephine (by her previous marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais, who died at the guillotine during the Reign of Terror). Hortense went on to marry Napoleon's brother Louis, in so doing becoming Queen Consort of Holland. Although Hortense would later give birth to the boy who become Napoleon III, the child depicted in the photo sadly died a year after it was painted.