Fashion History Blog

.. the warblers he discovered and charted for history.  Charles is the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte I.

.. Charles was the 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano, inheriting the titles from his father who had gotten them from Napoleon 1st. Charles was a biologist and ornithologist.  He discovered 2 rare species of birds – the mustached warbler and the storm-petrel in Italy, before traveling to the United …

Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte (mother Alexandrine) was born in Rome.  At age 15 he joined the anti-Napoleonic insurrectory bands.   Forced to flee to the United States along with his extended family, he joined his uncle Joseph there for a short time before traveling to Colombia to stay with family. He was …

Louis Lucien Bonaparte, 3rd son of Lucien was noteworthy as a scientist.  He was with the family at the time they tried to escape to America and was captured by the British. The British housed them in Worcester, England, but eventually he ended up in Italy when his father took …

..in the Catholic church.  The next generations would follow much different paths from those of  the military and political lives of their older relatives.  Christine Boyer and Lucien had 4 children; Alexandrine and Lucien had 9. (portrait: the late Regency style as featured by Alexandrine de Bleschamp during her support …

… They had 9 children, many of whom died in infancy or as children. Known as “Madame Jouberton” because she had been married previously, she had one daughter by that previous marriage. Together with his sister, they re-established the “Academie Francaise” for the intellectual arts. (portraits: Alexandrine de Bleschamps, Lucien’s …

… his sister took care of the young children for him, freeing him from the responsibilities of children.  Together with his sister, they supported archaelogy, science, and the arts in Italy. He found the bust of Juno at one dig. He remarried Alexandrine de Bleschamp, making a key political tie. …

.. but when the British found out Lucien was anti-Napoleonic, they allowed him to return to Worcester in England to live peacefully. Lucien would eventually return to France when Napoleon I was exiled, and eventually join his brother’s cause a 2nd time, when he would remarry, be named Prince of …

.. with Christine Boyer, wife of Lucien Bonaparte (Napoleon I’st middle brother). Note the “little white dress” in its most basic is made into a sensuous garment; typical of the 1795-1800 France with the counter-revolutionary “La Marveilleuse” movement discussed earlier.

… They quietly married in 1800 despite Napoleon’s wishes.  She was well liked, but Napoleon plotted to have Lucien leave her so that he could make a political tie. The growing conflict between the brothers developed into a real anti-Napoleonic movement.  When Napoleon came after them, the family – now …