Thursday, July 25, 2013

Napoléon Receiving the Queen of Prussia in Tilsit (1808)

Jean-Charles Tardieu: Napoléon Receiving the Queen of Prussia in Tilsit 

Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was Queen consort of Prussia as the wife of King Frederick William III. The couple's happy, though short-lived, marriage produced nine children, including the future monarchs Frederick William IV of Prussia and German Emperor Wilhelm I.

Her legacy became cemented after her extraordinary 1806 meeting with Napoleon at Tilsit – she met with the emperor to plead unsuccessfully for favorable terms after Prussia's disastrous losses in the Napoleonic Wars. Already well loved by her subjects, their meeting led Louise to become revered as "the soul of national virtue". Her early death at the age of thirty-four "preserved her youth in the memory of posterity", and caused Napoleon to reportedly remark the king "has lost his best minister".

The painter, Tardieu (1765-1830), was a successful artist during the time of Napoleon through the Bourbon Restoration. A passionate artist with great skill in composition, Tardieu exhibited in various salons, and achieved considerable success. He took part in a number of exhibitions in the Louvre between 1806 and 1823. In 1808 he was granted a housing allowance. The great majority of his works were bought by the government or commissioned by the government.

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