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The Garden and the
Painter
Two hundred years after Josephine Bonaparte
purchased the ancient château of Malmaison, on the outskirts of
Paris, a hurricane howled around its mighty stone walls. Practically
every historic monument in the surrounding Île de France was
damaged, but while seven hundred trees in the grounds were blown
down, Malmaison itself was untouched – not a slate had moved, not
a shutter was scratched.
The curator, Dr Bernard Chevallier, who has
devoted more than twenty years to restoring her home and treasures,
is convinced that Josephine still protects the house. ‘Her spirit
is still here; she is with us,’ he says. ‘She knows that
everything we do is devoted to her.’
As today’s visitors walk through the iron
gates and along the drive, Napoleon’s secret retreat, the
octagonal summer pavilion, and the sunken rose garden are on the
left, while to the right the cedar planted in 1800 by Josephine to
celebrate the victorious Battle of Marengo still towers over her
gallery. In the front lawn, near the stream, the wild violets which
Napoleon gathered each year to present to her on their wedding
anniversary still bloom every spring.
Part of the once vast garden has been
restored, but most of the plants that flourished under Josephine’s
care are gone. Only the paintings of Pierre-Joseph Redouté remain
to record them. Two of the most famed botanical books ever produced,
Jardin de la Malmaison and Description des Plantes rares cultivées
à Malmaison et à Navarre, show the immense range of exotic plants
in the beautiful garden that became the setting for a legendary love
story.
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Redouté's
Flowers
(published
UK 2001,
published France 2001)
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