Joséphine de Beauharnais

Joséphine de Beauharnais, born Marie-Josèphe-Rose Tascher de La Pagerie in Martinique in 1763, became the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte and empress of the French. Her first marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais produced Eugène and Hortense; Alexandre was executed during the Terror while Joséphine herself was imprisoned and survived. She married Napoleon in 1796, and her family and social networks became increasingly important as his military and political power expanded.

Crowned empress in 1804, Joséphine cultivated an influential court and became an important patron of art, fashion, botany and horticulture, particularly at Malmaison. Her inability to provide Napoleon with a biological heir led to the dissolution of their marriage in 1809–1810, though she retained the title of empress and remained on good terms with him. Through Eugène and Hortense, her descendants entered several European dynasties. She died at Malmaison in May 1814.

Simon Scarrow’s The Generals and Fire and Sword place Joséphine within Napoleon’s rise and imperial household, while Michelle Moran’s The Second Empress approaches her legacy through Napoleon’s later marriage to Marie Louise. Tracy Chevalier’s The Glassmaker uses Joséphine more briefly as one of the elite patrons reached by Venetian luxury goods, reflecting her historical association with consumption, fashion and artistic collecting.