Portrait of Hortense de Beauharnais

Hortense de Beauharnais (1783–1837), Paris, France, by 1811;

Probably inherited by her niece, Amélie of Leuchtenberg, later Empress of Brazil (1812–1873), 1842 [1];

Purchased at her sale, around 1870, by a member of the Digby family, probably Georgina de Flahaut de la Billarderie, marquise de Lavalette (1822–1907), Paris, ca. 1870–1907 [2];

By descent to her niece, Lady Emily Louise Anne Fitzmaurice, later Lady Emily Digby (d. 1939), London, 1907–1939 [3];

By descent to her son, Almarus Edward Digby, Esq. (1889–1950), London, 1939–1950;

Purchased from his posthumous sale, The Digby Collections: Catalogue of Gold Snuff Boxes, Watches, Musical Boxes, Objects of Vertu and Fine Portrait Miniatures, Sotheby’s, London, June 21, 1951, lot 73, as La Duchesse de St. Leu, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1951–1958 [4];

Their gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

Notes:

[1] The Nelson-Atkins miniature is illustrated in a publication by Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 6th Marquess of Lansdowne, who was styled Earl of Kerry until 1927. The Earl of Kerry, under which title he published his book, The First Napoleon (1925), was a relative of the Digby family members who later sold the miniature to the Starrs in 1951. He wrote of its probable provenance, “The miniature of Queen Hortense is by Isabey, and belonged to Amélie, the daughter of Prince Eugène Beauharnais and wife of Dom Pedro, the Emperor of Brazil. It is probably the portrait which Queen Hortense left by will to her niece (Revue de l’Empire, 1ère année 1842). The miniature was bought about the year 1870, when a sale of some of the Empress Amélie’s effects took place.” The Earl of Kerry, ed., The First Napoleon: Some Unpublished Documents from the Bowood Papers (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1925), xix.

[2] See also note [1]. “The miniature was bought [by a Digby relative] about the year 1870, when a sale of some of the Empress Amélie’s effects took place.” The Earl of Kerry, ed., The First Napoleon, xix. Empress Amélie’s sale has not yet been traced.

The marquise de Lavalette was the daughter of Charles, comte de Flahaut de la Billarderie (1785–1870), former lover of Hortense de Beauharnais, the subject and probable owner of the Nelson-Atkins portrait. The marquise and her husband had no children. As the inheritor of her father’s collection and archives, the marquise undertook the guardianship of her family’s heritage and acquired various objects relating to the comte de Flahaut and Hortense de Beauharnais. After her death, she left her large collection of art and decorative arts, including portrait miniatures, to her niece, Lady Emily Fitzmaurice. See “Héritière du patrimoine et des archives de Charles de Flahaut, [Georgina Gabrielle de Flahaut de La Billarderie] devient, de fait, la garante de sa mémoire.” Archives Nationales, Paris, fonds Flahaut (565 AP), https://www.siv.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/siv/POG/FRAN_POG_05/p-227bg2m94-m5vz5lpr1z10/. See also Gillian Wilson, French Furniture and Gilt Bronzes: Baroque and Régence: Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008), 142.

[3] While Lady Emily Fitzmaurice was the granddaughter of Charles, comte de Flahaut de la Billarderie and his wife Margaret Mercer Elphinstone (1788–1867), the Nelson-Atkins miniature does not seem to have been inherited by descent from Flahaut, unlike at least one other portrait of Hortense by Isabey, which had been a gift from Hortense to Flahaut’s wife Margaret Mercer Elphinstone. Lady Emily’s brother, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, then styled Earl of Kerry, wrote of that other Isabey, “The portrait in water-colour by Isabey which forms the subject of our illustration, was a gift from the ex-Queen and always hung in Madame de Flahault’s [sic] bedroom. This and the portrait of her husband by Gerard (p. 16) were destined by Madame de Flahault [sic] for Morny. Owing to his predecease they were left to Madame de Lavalette, from whom they passed respectively to Lady Emily Digby and Lord Fitzmaurice.” The Earl of Kerry, ed., The First Napoleon, 267. As note [2] suggests, the Nelson-Atkins miniature was more likely purchased by Flahaut’s daughter Georgina, “Madame de Lavalette,” out of an interest in that aspect of her family history. Kerry noted, “The illustrations [including that of the Nelson-Atkins portrait of Hortense de Beauharnais] are all taken from portraits and objects in the possession of Flahault’s [sic] descendants.” The Earl of Kerry, ed., The First Napoleon, xvi.

[4] Described in the catalogue as “other fine small Miniature of La Duchesse de St. Leu, probably by Isabey, in a pale blue dress, enameled and pearl-bordered frame, 1 1/2 in.” This provenance is confirmed by the presence of several other miniatures in the Digby sale now in the Starr collection, including “A Good French Miniature by Augustin, called Mme. La Comtesse de Grabowska (née de Béthisy), half-length, full face in white hat and feathers, low-cut white dress with broad purple sash, in a circular ormolu frame, 3 in.” sold in the same lot (see Unknown, Anne Julie de Béthisy, Comtesse de Grabowski, late 19th/early 20th century, F58-60/4). The Starrs frequently purchased groupings of miniatures at auction. Archival research has shown that Leggatt Brothers served as purchasing agents for the Starrs. See correspondence between Betty Hogg and Martha Jane Starr, May 15 and June 3, 1950, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.