Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte (31 October 1802 – 2 March 1839) was the daughter of

Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte (born Giuseppe di Buonaparte, ; ; ; 7 January 176828 July 1844) was a French statesman, lawyer, diplomat and older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic Wars, the latter made him King of Naples (1806–1808), an ...

, the older brother of Emperor

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

, and

Julie Clary Marie Julie Clary (26 December 1771 – 7 April 1845), also known as Julie Bonaparte, was Queen of Naples, then of Spain and the Indies, as the wife of Joseph Bonaparte, who was King of Naples from January 1806 to June 1808, and later King ...

. She was active as an artist.

Life

After the fall of her uncle Emperor Napoleon in 1815, her father moved to America and lived in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. Charlotte and her sister, however, stayed with their mother in Europe. They lived in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in 1815-1821, and then in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. She studied engraving and lithography in Paris with the artist

Louis Léopold Robert Louis Léopold Robert (13 May 1794 – 20 March 1835) was a Switzerland, Swiss Painting, painter. Biography He was born at La Chaux-de-Fonds (Canton of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel) in Switzerland, but left his native place with the engraver Jean Girar ...

, who is reputed to have fallen in love with her. Charlotte, known as the Countess de Survilliers, lived with her father at his Point Breeze estate in

Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a City (New Jersey), city in Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 3,993, an increase of 69 (+1.8%) from the 2010 United ...

, from December 1821 to August 1824.Point Breeze
Maryland Center for History and Culture. Accessed May 8, 2024. "A small lithograph of the Point Breeze estate owned by Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844), older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. The mansion was located in Bordentown, New Jersey. The print was made by Joseph's daughter Charlotte Bonaparte who lived with him at the estate in the early 1820s." Charlotte married her first cousin Napoléon Louis, the second son of

Louis Bonaparte Louis Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French c ...

and

Hortense de Beauharnais Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte (; , ; 10 April 1783 – 5 October 1837) was Kingdom of Holland, Queen of Holland as the wife of King Louis Bonaparte. She was the stepdaughter of Emperor Napoléon I as the daughter of his first wife, Joséphi ...

, on 23 July 1826. She became a widow in 1831.

Artist

While in America, she sketched numerous landscapes including Passaic Falls, her father's estate at Point Breeze, the town of

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, and others, some of which were engraved for the book "Picturesque American Scenes" by Joubert. Extant landscape drawings by her include Passaic Falls, a view near Tuckerton, and Schooley's Mountain. She also painted portraits (Cora Monges, 1822; Emilie Lacoste, 1823) and exhibited her work at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

Death

Charlotte reportedly died in childbirth. The father of her child was reportedly Count Potocki. Her tomb is in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, and it says (paraphrased): Born Oct. 31, 1802, died 1839.

Legacy

Charlotte, her sister Zénaide (1801–1854), and their mother were painted by the French artist

François Gérard François Pascal Simon Gérard (, 4 May 1770 – 11 January 1837), titled as Baron Gérard in 1809, was a French painter. He was born in Rome, where his father occupied a post in the house of the French ambassador, and his mother was Italian. A ...

, while their mother was Queen of Spain. Another French artist, the well-known

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

, painted a portrait of the two sisters; it shows them reading a letter from Philadelphia sent by their father.

Gallery

File:Cottrau - Napoléon-Louis Bonaparte (1804-1831).jpg, King Napoléon-Louis Bonaparte File:Jacques-Louis David - The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte ''The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte'' is an 1821 portrait painting by the French artist Jacques-Louis David. It is a dual portrait of Charlotte Bonaparte and Zénaïde Bonaparte, the daughters of the former King of Spain, Joseph Bonapa ...

'' by

, 1821 File:Charlotte Bonaparte Tomb.jpg, Charlotte Bonaparte's Tomb.

Ancestry

Sources

* E. Benezit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs (1966), vol. 1, p. 754, and vol. 7, p. 279. p 464 * Patricia Tyson Stroud, ''The Man Who Had Been King: The American Exile of Napoleon's Brother Joseph'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), pp. 88–113. * William H. Gerdts, ''Painting and Sculpture in New Jersey'' (Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand, 1964), p. 56. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonaparte, Charlotte Napoleone 1802 births 1839 deaths Deaths in childbirth Charlotte Napoleone Bonaparte French expatriates in the United States Charlotte Napoleone Bonaparte Daughters of kings Expatriates in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany Painters from New Jersey People from Bordentown, New Jersey