Lot 63: JEAN-BAPTISTE ISABEY (FRENCH 1767-1855) AND COMTE THEODORE LANCELOT TURPIN DE CRISSE (FRENCH 1782-1859)

ROMANCES An album of twenty five pages, one signed Isabey and dated 1813, watercolour, two signed with initials T.T., one signed and dated Turpin de Crisse 1809, all pen and brown ink and brown wash bound in red leather, Hortense written in filigrane gold letters on the frontispiece An album PROVENANCE Hortense de Beauharnais. This album includes medieval tales and early nineteenth century ballads, possibly set to music by Queen Hortense. Born in Paris in 1783, Hortense was Alexandre and Josephine de Beauharnais' daughter. After her husband's execution in 1794, Josephine married Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon arranged for Hortense to marry his brother, Louis Bonaparte, in 1802. One of their sons was later to become Napoleon III. Hortense became Queen of Holland in 1806. After her husband's abdication in 1810, she separated from him and held a prestigious Salon in Paris. Under the first Restoration of the Monarchy, Hortense was made Duchess of Saint-Leu by Louis XVIII. Forced into exile after the July Monarchy, she settled in the castle of Arenenberg in Switzerland where she died in 1837.