New acquisition: Napoleon I in a hunting outfit

Since its creation, the Mansart Foundation has continued to enrich the heritage of its collections which are presented each year to a wide audience.

Last July, the foundation acquired two oil paintings from the beginning of the eighteenth century. One is named Asseyez-vous mes braves gens, dit [Napoléon] aux bûcherons (sit down my brave people, said Napoleon to the lumbermens) and the other one L’empereur remet la pétition à l’inspecteur avec ordre de faire son rapport sur le champ (The emperor gives the inspector the petition with order to make his report immediately). These scenes are identical to two lithographs made by Jean Boscq and Etienne Devilliers Le Jeune for the first one and Alexandre-Joseph Desenne and Pierre-Joseph Tavernier for the second one. These lithographs, probably inspired from the paintings, can be found in the string of prints Napoléon et ses contemporains by Auguste de Chambure dating 1824.

These art works distinguish themselves by representing the emperor in an imperial hunting suit, a rare iconography. The suit, recognizable by its green color and its red collar orned with braids, relate to an historic moment of the château de Bagatelle : when, in a hunting trip and while wearing this exact uniform, Napoleon discovered the estate before buying it in 1806.

At the opening of the château de Bagatelle, the public will be able to see these two paintings, witnesses of imperial history and of the estate.