JOSEPHINE BONAPARTE | autograph letter signed, to Citizen Denon, [c. 1800-1804]

JOSÉPHINE BONAPARTE

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("JOSEPHINE BONAPARTE") TO CITIZEN DENON

announcing that she is writing on the instructions of Napoleon who has a proposition to put to him and urges him to set out for Malmaison as soon as he receives her note, ending her note with the words "amine pour la vie", 1 page, small 4to (17.5 x 16.5cm), cut from a larger leaf, the address panel affixed below the text of the letter (marked "Tres pressee"), [Malmaison, c. 1800-1804]; together with a carte-de-visite

Denon, an artist, had first met Napoleon at Josephine's salon and thereby obtained a place on the expedition to Egypt. This letter almost certainly dates from Napoleon's period as First Consul. Denon's sumptuously illustrated Voyage dans la basse el la haute Egypt appeared in 1802, a forerunner of the celebrated Description de l'Egypte, and two years later Napoleon appointed Denon Director-General of Museums.

PROVENANCE:

Pencarrow Collection; Sotheby's, London, 8 December 1999, lot 179

To view shipping calculator, please here