"Magnificence and Grandeur of the Royal Houses in Europe" exhibition (11 July – 11 September, 2011)

 
On 10 July 2011, the Princess of Hanover was present at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco to inaugurate the principality's new summer exhibition. Entitled “Magnificence and Grandeur of the Royal Houses in Europe”, the exhibition features nearly seven-hundred items taken from collections, both national and private, dedicated to the various royal houses of Europe. Twenty European royal and imperial courts are present in this magisterial demonstration of grandeur, and the exhibition's curators have – quite naturally – chosen the First Empire as France's representative for the event.
 
The section concerned with France's imperial house is made up of three spaces and features a number of exceptional items loaned by the Châteaux de Malmaison and de Versailles, and the Musée Masséna in Nice, as well as twenty-odd “treasures” taken from the Fondation Napoléon's collection. As the visitor enters the area, they are welcomed by the full-size portraits of the emperor in full coronation dress (by Gérard) and of the empress Josephine (by Riesener).
 
The third room (top) features objects having once belonged to the French empress Josephine, including a splendid set of jewels in malachite (right), her Egyptian tea service (presented to her by Napoleon), her desk tidy and punch bowl (both by Biennais and part of the Fondation Napoléon's collection), and a bust in bisque porcelain produced by the Sèvres Manufactory which complements a similar bust depicting the emperor. Both these porcelain objects are presented on a sumptuous pedestal table decorated with sphinxes and produced by Riesener (loaned from the Villa Masséna collection).
 
The emperor is also present at the exhibition, in the form of a tapered vase decorated with his portrait (after Gérard), his nécessaire dentaire, four plates taken from his “service particulier” (part of the Fondation Napoléon's collection), his hat (centre) loaned by the small Napoleonic museum in Monaco, and a charming painting by Louis Ducis depicting him on the terrace at the Château de Saint-Cloud surrounded by the young princes and princesses of the imperial family (left, lent by the Château de Versailles).