BEAUHARNAIS (Eugène de). Autograph letter... - Lot 42 - Osenat

BEAUHARNAIS (Eugène de). Autograph letter signed [to his secretary Étienne Méjan]. Milan, December 20, 1808. 2 pp. in-4; split at the central fold of the bifeuillet. BEAUTIFUL LETTER FROM THE VICE KING OF ITALY AND ADOPTIVE SON OF NAPOLEON I. "I received only this morning your letter of the 11th in which you announce to me and your arrival in Paris and the handing-over of my letters to my mother and my sister [the Empress Josephine and the Queen Hortense]... I HAVE SEEN WITH PLEASURE THAT YOU HAVE FOUND THE EMPRESS IN GOOD HEALTH AND MY SISTER ADVANCING IN HER RECOVERY [Queen Hortense had given birth to the future Napoleon III on April 20, 1808]. I am very grateful to you for the eagerness you have shown in commissioning my two paintings. I WISH THAT THEY ARE BOTH MADE BY [FRANÇOIS] GERARD AND OF THE SAME SIZE AS THAT OF MY SISTER [HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS]. If however Gerard had never painted the emperor, it would be necessary to address himself to another painter and in this case I would prefer [LOUIS-FRANÇOIS] LEJEUNE. I do not want at all that of [LOUIS] DAVID. Besides, I already have a copy of it in the Council room which is detestable in resemblance. I am not sending you the papers for Mollien [Nicolas François Mollien, Minister of the Treasury of the Empire] which concern the Paymaster General Laquiante [the Paymaster General of the French troops in Italy, Guillaume Antoine Bruno Laquiante]; because I have managed to arrange this affair, however difficult it was. The articles of a transaction are being drawn up and I believe that Laquiante will lose only 30 to 40 thousand francs. This will serve as a good lesson for him and will make him keep a tighter rein on his little rascals of employees. Tell this to Mollien if you see him. I like to repeat that I was pleased with your first letter and that it deserves only one reproach; it is the fact that you forgot to tell me how your little family endured the fatigue of the journey... DO NOT FORGET TO BRING BACK MANY NOTES ON THE WAY IN WHICH THE OFFICES OF THE SENATE AND THE COUNCIL OF TITLES ARE ORGANIZED. THEY WILL BE VERY USEFUL FOR ME TO DO NOTHING MORE HERE THAN IN FRANCE."