MARTIN-GUILLAUME BIENNAIS (1764-1843) King... - Lot 254 - Osenat

Lot 254
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Result : 27 500EUR
MARTIN-GUILLAUME BIENNAIS (1764-1843) King... - Lot 254 - Osenat
MARTIN-GUILLAUME BIENNAIS (1764-1843) King Jerome Napoleon Small gilt bronze bust. It rests on a square pedestal base and a cylindrical pedestal chased with a frieze of palmettes and the figure JN for Jérome-Napoléon surmounted by a crown. Signed BIENNAIS ORFVRE DE LLMM IMPLES ET ROYLES À PARIS. Empire period (wear to the gilding) H: 26 cm Provenance: Hector Le Fuel Collection This bust is part of the series known as the Napoleonides (28 in number) of which Biennais made small busts in gilded bronze of all the members of Napoleon's family. Guillaume BIENNAIS (1764-1843), tabletier received master in 1788, buys the same year the modest bottom of the tabletier Claude-Louis Anciaux that he develops. Under the Consulate, he agrees to supply the Ist Consul Bonaparte on credit. The latter, now Emperor, was grateful and made him his goldsmith. The Revolution having abolished the guild system, Biennais took advantage of this to extend his activity to goldsmithing, thus offering his customers luxury objects of which he mastered all the stages of manufacture. Under the sign of the "Singe Violet", he sold tableware, cabinetmaking and goldsmithing. In 1806, he won a gold medal at the Exhibition of Industrial Products in the silverware section. His company grew considerably and employed up to 200 workers. Biennais counts among his customers the Bonaparte and Beauharnais families and important dignitaries. Under the Restoration, his attachment to the Emperor deprived him of royal orders, but he received several orders from abroad. In 1821, he sold his business to Jean-Charles Cahier, in favour with the Bourbons. Jérome (1784-1860), King of Westphalia from 8 July 1807 to 26 October 1813 The last child of the Buonaparte siblings, born on 15 November 1784, was destined for a career in the navy by his elder brother Napoleon, who was left in charge of the family after his father's death in 1785. From 1799, Jérôme accompanied General Leclerc on board various ships and spent two years in the Americas before returning to France in 1805. Captain of a frigate and then of a ship the same year, the Emperor placed him at the head of a squadron bound for the West Indies and following the capture of a dozen British merchant ships, he became rear-admiral and major general on 14 March 1807. On December 8, 1807, at the age of 23, the youngest of the Bonaparte sons was crowned king in Kassel, the capital of the Kingdom of Westphalia created by Talleyrand and Napoleon within the Confederation of the Rhine and made up of eight departments, including former Prussian possessions. If Jerome shows himself the most submissive of the siblings to Napoleon's demands, his expenses do not fail to arouse Napoleon's anger. The relations between the two brothers deteriorate in July 1809, during the second campaign of Austria when Jerome, unable to respect the military objectives is beaten by the general Kienmayer... Also a poor general during the Russian campaign in 1812, he was then subordinate to Marshal Davout, which the King of Westphalia could not bear and finally he abandoned the "Army of the Twenty Nations" and returned to Kassel. His kingdom was invaded by the coalitionists at the end of 1813. He tried in vain to negotiate with the Russians to save his throne in exchange for a declaration of war against the Empire. He took refuge in France and escorted Empress Marie-Louise to Blois when the Allies entered Paris. Exiled to Switzerland after his brother's first abdication, Jerome then took refuge in Trieste, Italy. He rallied to the Empire during the Hundred Days and took part in the battles of the Belgian campaign. After Napoleon's second abdication, Jerome chose the castle of Göpingen, in Württemberg, as his new home, where he lived until August 1816. Then he settled in Austria under the name of count and prince of Montfort. He lived through the regime of Louis XVI, the Revolution, the Consulate and the Empire, the two Restorations, the Second Republic and the Second Empire of his nephew Napoleon III. He was the last of the siblings to die on 24 June 1860. MARTIN-GUILLAUME BIENNAIS (1764-1843) KING JEROME NAPOLEON SMALL GILDED BRONZE BUST EMPIRE PERIOD
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