" Château de Navarre "de Joséphine de Beauharnais - Huile sur panneau signée et datée 1812- Epoque Napoléon 1er

"Castle of Navarre" Oil on panel signed (signature to decipher: J. Ma....?) Napoleonic period dated 1812 According to Wikipedia: Origins: Restitution of the perspective of the castle of Navarre, near Evreux. A first castle was built in 1330 by Jeanne II of Navarre. It was rebuilt in 1686 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for Godefroy-Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon and Count of Évreux. Godefroy Charles Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne had several improvements made there until 1786, including two factories, a temple of Love and a garden of Hébé. The gardens, redesigned by English architects, include greenhouses and an orangery. Napoleonic times Drawing, work of John Sell Cotman, around 1830. In 1809, the sale was made at auction, Napoleon won the contract, for the sum of 900,000 francs. In 1810, after his divorce, he offered it as a gift to Empress Joséphine, made Duchess of Navarre, who lived there for two years. He even went to visit her three times in her new domain. Josephine had taken pleasure in embellishing these places, which had been neglected for many years. She frequently went to visit his castle. It was in these places that, daily and at all hours, she received a crowd of families who subsisted only on her benefactions. It was there that, now frequenting fewer people, she had found friends. The Duke of Leuchtenberg, his grandson, authorized by King Louis-Philippe 2, sold this estate in 1834 to a Dauvet (from the family of the Marquis Desmarets, great falconer of France), for the sum of approximately 1,200,000 francs . Reconversion of the site: Mr. de Dauvet demolished the castle in 1836, built a factory and sold land and meadows in detail. As for the forest of Évreux, formerly dependent on the domain of Navarre, it was not part of the prerogative of the Empress Joséphine. This forest had been sold in detail, almost at the same time as the castle, by the princes of Rohan, heirs of the last duke of Bouillon. On the site of the castle is today the hippodrome of Evreux and the district took the name of "district of Navarre". Painting in its original frame (small restorations on the corners) Dimensions: 77 cm by 68 cm - depth: 9 cm.