BEAUHARNAIS (Marie-Anne-Françoise Mouchard... - Lot 38 - Osenat

BEAUHARNAIS (Marie-Anne-Françoise Mouchard de Chaban, known as Fanny de). Letter signed and dated by her hand, to Count Godefroy de La Tour-d'Auvergne. S.l., February 12, 1806. 2 pp. in-4, address on the back with vestige of a red wax seal with her initials. " ... Mr. AND MAD[AM]E MURAT are in perfect health. I expect to see them this evening in my dressing room. Their son is the prettiest in the world... We saw the return of L'EMPEREUR with the right enthusiasm that he has the right to expect. Would you like me to place your homage at the feet of the IMPERATOR and to speak of you to my dear goddaughter, Princess Louis [Hortense de Beauharnais]..." She also evokes several of their common acquaintances. PARENT OF THE IMPERATRESS JOSEPHINE AND Godmother of HORTENSE, FANNY DE BEAUHARNAIS was born Marie-Anne-Françoise Mouchard de Chaban, and married in 1753 Claude de Beauharnais, Count Des Roches-Baritaud, from whom she separated in 1762. She distinguished herself by her taste for letters, writing herself, and holding salons at her home in Fontainebleau. Napoleon I adopted her daughter Stephanie and made her a grand duchess of Baden.