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Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples
  • Date: c. 1808-12
  • Object Type: Miniature
  • Medium: Watercolour on ivory
  • Image size: 6.6 x 5.1 cm
  • Inv: M4
  • Location: West Gallery III
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Description
Provenance
Marks/Inscriptions
Further Reading
  • Aubry painted many members of Napoleon's large family, including the Emperor himself. Formally catalogued as a portrait of Pauline Bonaparte, Napoleon's second sister, this is actually a portrait of her younger sister, as is clear from comparison with other images. It also derives from a portrait of Caroline by Isabey in the Louvre, Paris (RF30753). Caroline is shown wearing a superb blue velvet dress with a court collar called a 'chérusque'. Her magnificent jewels comprise a tiara of diamonds radiating upwards from a large turquoise in the centre, with further turquoises set among diamond scrolls; earrings of turqoises and diamonds; and a necklace of alternate small and larger oval clusters of turquoises within diamond borders.