In 1807, the small town of Tilsit became the rendezvous point for crowned heads. There, Napoleon met Queen Louise of Prussia, one of the most beautiful women of her time, who came to implore the victor's mercy for her country. It's a great subject for painters. After his victory at Friedland over the Tsar's army, Napoleon dictated the terms of peace at Tilsit. His numerous meetings with Alexander I took place in a festive and warm atmosphere. The Russian autocrat took the opportunity to intercede on behalf of his friends, Frederick William III and Louise of Prussia.
The Queen Comes to the Rescue
A member of the noble house of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Louise had been accustomed since childhood to detest the French, who had forced her family to flee during the Revolutionary Wars. She married the crown prince in 1793 at the age of seventeen. Becoming queen in 1797, she pushed her husband to join the anti-French coalition. In 1806, Napoleon ridiculed her in a bulletin of the Grande Armée: "The Queen of Prussia is with the army, dressed as an Amazon, wearing the uniform of her regiment of dragoons, writing twenty letters a day to kindle fires everywhere."
After the defeats at Jena and Auerstedt, the royal family led a precarious existence, taking refuge in Königsberg and then in Memel. The Russians' defeat at Friedland marked the end of Louise's hopes. Her husband went to Tilsit to meet the victor and plead for his country, but Napoleon treated him with disdain and made harsh, even insulting remarks. He exclaimed in front of witnesses: "Ignoble king, ignoble nation, ignoble army, a power that has deceived everyone and does not deserve to exist!" From the first day, Frederick William III remained silent, fearing the loss of his dignity. That's when the beautiful queen came to his rescue, more determined than ever to prevent the dismemberment of Prussia in the hope of securing some concessions.
Her arrival in Tilsit on July 6, 1807, caused a sensation. The famous memoirist Jean-Roch Coignet was deeply impressed: "What majestic deportment! I was then thirty years old, and I would have given one of my ears to stay with her as long as the Emperor did." The queen wore a white crepe dress embroidered with silver and a pearl diadem. Her first meeting with Napoleon was held without witnesses. Louise used all her charm, barely concealing her repugnance. While she attempted to argue for the preservation of Prussia's territorial integrity, her interlocutor avoided making promises and only discussed trivial matters. The king, tired of waiting behind the door, suddenly entered the room and interrupted their tête-à-tête, much to the queen's displeasure. Napoleon, missing nothing, was amused by this marital scene, while acknowledging to himself that this woman was "a hundred times above her husband." Louise left with a tear-stained face and swollen eyes. Addressing his chief of staff, the Emperor remarked: "Well, Berthier, the beautiful Queen of Prussia weeps prettily; she thinks I came here for her beautiful eyes!"
The ultimate humiliation for the Prussian sovereigns was being lodged in a mill "with the miller's donkeys." Disturbed by the noise of soldiers coming to grind grain, they dined every day at Napoleon's. The queen wanted to appear cheerful and relaxed while trying to steer the conversation towards serious topics. The Emperor didn't let her and asked about her dresses instead. One day, when she arrived wearing a muslin turban on her head, he asked if it was to please the Tsar who was at war with the Turks. She replied: "No, it's rather to court Roustam!" Napoleon's Mameluke, present, undoubtedly appreciated the retort...
Amused by this act and the pathetic tone she employed, Napoleon compared her to the famous actress Duchesnois as Chimène. To make her leave this tragic role, he made her sit down! He shared this in a letter to Empress Josephine: "The Queen of Prussia is truly charming; she is full of coquetry towards me. But do not be jealous: I am like waxed cloth, which everything slides off of. It would cost me too much to play the gallant." The beauty of his interlocutor did not impress him overly, since she "was beginning to lose her early youth." Therefore, Louise's efforts were in vain. She fully realized this during a memorable dinner. When Napoleon complimented a rose pinned on her jacket, the queen asked him: "Would Your Majesty like this rose in exchange for the fortress of Magdeburg?" The Emperor's refusal plunged her into despair, for it was a very important fortress for Prussia. But Napoleon's decision was irrevocable, as he explained to Talleyrand, who was in charge of the negotiations: "It is in my system to weaken Prussia, I want her to no longer be a power in the political balance of Europe." Later, appropriating the famous remark of Mary Tudor about Calais, Louise would say: "If one opened my heart, one would read the name of Magdeburg."
A Much-Loved Sovereign
The Treaty of Tilsit, disastrous for Prussia which lost all its territories on the left bank of the Elbe and its acquisitions during the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, not to mention a hefty war contribution, dealt a terrible blow to the queen's morale. At the moment of farewell, she made one last desperate attempt to move Napoleon: "Is it possible, having had the happiness of seeing so closely the man of the century and history, he does not leave me the freedom and satisfaction to assure him that he has won me over for life?" The Emperor responded with an enigmatic smile: "Madam, I am to be pitied, because all this is the effect of my bad star." Deeply disappointed and frustrated by the role she had been led to play, she told Talleyrand she regretted coming and responded to Murat, who advised her to read the history of the present rather than that of the past: "It is already too much for me to live through it!"
In the following years, the sovereign worked tirelessly to support the reforms led by Prussian ministers. In 1809, the royal couple visited Saint Petersburg. It is the last joy of the one who so loves the parties and the distractions of the court. Suffering from a pulmonary infection, Louise died on July 19, 1810, while staying with her father at Hohenzieritz Castle in Brandenburg. The whole country plunges into mourning. Mother of several children, including King Frederick William IV, Emperor William I of Germany, and the wife of Tsar Nicholas I, brother of Alexander I, she was elevated in Prussia to the rank of an exemplary woman, heroine national and symbol of the country's rebirth from 1813. The Order of Louise, established in 1814, rewards women who provided care to the wounded and sick during the War of Liberation. His mausoleum can still be seen in the park of Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin. Tilsit (today Sovetsk in Russia) has not forgotten the beautiful solicitor: a magnificent statue of Louise sits in a garden, not far from the large bridge over the Niemen which bears her name.
The scene represented by Gosse is the arrival of the sovereigns in Tilsit shortly after eight o'clock in the evening on July 6, 1807, to dine at Napoleon's lodgings (2). The Emperor gave the queen a solemn welcome and military honors. A hedge of grenadiers from Guard 1, among whom is probably Coignet, is visible in the background. Queen 2, who wears a sumptuous Empire dress, is surrounded by her husband, Frederick William III, and Tsar Alexander. The Russian monarch 3 wears the grand cordon of the Legion of Honor, while Napoleon 4 displays that of the Russian Order of Saint Andrew. Alexander I, a handsome man despite his emerging baldness, displayed other decorations: the cross of Saint George, a military decoration par excellence, that of Saint Alexander Nevsky, and the plaque of Saint Andrew.
The King of Prussia 5 wears the decoration and orange cord of the Order of the Black Eagle. His pitiful role in Tilsit provoked mockery from the French. Also, Coignet speaks of him in these terms: “He was very stupid compared to the great man! Fortunately, the great Alexander was there to defend him: he looked like a victim who deserved correction. God, he was skinny, the ugly ruler! He represented poverty, with a stupid face. But also he had a very beautiful queen! » Lieutenant Charles François is even more ruthless: “The King of Prussia, like the other sovereigns, was often on foot, and this tall, long-tailed hunk was always behind the emperors and seemed ashamed to be among them. Our Emperor was obliged to say to him: “Your Majesty is requested to advance.” I have never seen a prince as stupid as this king. » The soldiers laugh when they see the three monarchs pass: “Here are Napoleon, Alexander, and their valet. » After a few days spent together, the Emperor formed a very unfavorable opinion of Frederick William III: “He is an extremely narrow-minded man, without character, without means, a real simpleton, an oaf, a bore, also stupid What a drill sergeant! » He will remember it in Saint Helena: "The King of Prussia was a real idiot, every time he came to my house to talk to me about business, he never managed to express his thoughts, I talked to him about shakos, buttons, skin bags, and a thousand stupid things. »
Napoleon's silhouette is very classic. On his uniform as a colonel of the Guard's foot grenadiers, he displays the crosses of the Legion of Honor and the Iron Crown. The color of his eyes is precisely that described by Denis Davydov, a Russian officer who approached him closely in Tilsit: "I saw a man standing straight, without the slightest tension, which characterizes almost all people in small size. But what distinguished him from everyone was a sort of noble and military presence which he had certainly acquired through his habit of dominating men and a feeling of his moral superiority over them. He was equally remarkable for his ease and free manners, for his natural agility in the most fiery and rapid movements, whether he was walking or standing still. I saw a man with a pure face, a slightly swarthy complexion, and very regular features. His nose was small and straight, with a very slight, barely visible bump at the root. His hair was not black but dark blonde, his eyebrows and eyelashes closer to black than the color of his hair, and his eyes blue, which, combined with the almost black eyelashes, made his look very pleasant. Finally, in none of my meetings with him did I see those frowns with which the portrait painters-pamphleteers of the time graced him. »
On the right, the red cord of the Legion of Honor is worn by Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich 6, brother of the Tsar, and Prince Alexander Borissovitch Kurakin 7. Between them, stands the septuagenarian Prussian Field Marshal Friedrich Adolf von Kalckreuth 8, who commanded the garrison of Danzig during a long and memorable siege by Napoleonic troops in 1807. He displays the plaque of the Russian Order of Saint Andrew and the orange cord of that of the Black Eagle, as well as the cross of Saint Alexander Nevsky around his neck. It was he who signed the armistice with Marshal Berthier. If Alexander I – “one of the beautiful men of Europe” according to Coignet – arouses enthusiasm, his brother is far from winning the votes. Louis-François Lejeune observed him with the trained eye of the painter: “Grand Duke Constantine had crushed features like those of the Kalmyks, and he resembled his father Paul I, but his tall figure was admirably shaped, and his boldness in riding spirited horses was only comparable to his extraordinary skill in taming them. He took pleasure in giving us the spectacle of it on the wide and slippery pavement of the streets of Tilsit, which singularly multiplied the dangers of these daring exercises. »
Kourakine, known for his sumptuous clothes overloaded with jewelry and lace, did not deviate from this in this painting. The buttons and hilt of his sword are made of diamonds; a pearl or diamond epaulet covers his right shoulder. He wears the crosses of Malta (in his capacity as commander of this order) and of Saint Alexander Nevsky around his neck, as well as the plaque of Saint Andrew under that of the Legion of Honor, as on his famous portrait by Vladimir Borovikovsky. The ribbon of French decoration almost entirely hides that of Saint Andrew, blue. Appointed ambassador to Paris after Tilsit, it was he who introduced “Russian service” to France when dishes are served successively and not all at the same time, which allows them to eat hot.
Behind the royal couple, we see a lady 9 dressed in German fashion. It is either the Countess of Tauentzien or the Countess of Voss, the latter serving for fifty years at the Prussian court and very faithful to etiquette. The two men in rather fanciful white clothes are most likely Princes Henry of Prussia 10, brother of the king, and Ludwig of Bavaria, future King Ludwig I 11. The hairstyles of the soldiers silhouetted behind them are anachronistic and relate more to the year 1830, the time of creation of the painting.
On the steps, we see a few familiar faces: Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord 12, the main French negotiator; the grand marshal of the palace Géraud-Christophe de Michel du Roc, known as Duroc 13; Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières 14, with his powdered hair; Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier 15; Agathon Jean François Fain 16, secretary to Napoleon. On the left, Marshals Joachim Murat 17, and Louis-Nicolas Davout 18 have their eyes turned toward the sovereigns. Talleyrand, Berthier, and Murat are surrounded by the cord of the order of Saint Andrew, courtesy of the Emperor of Russia in response to the distribution of decorations of the Legion of Honor to some members of his entourage.
Tilsit Town Hall 19, in Baroque style, is topped by a tower decorated with a 34 m high spire and a three-story dome (3).
Gosse's painting can be compared to another, very similar, by René-Théodore Berthon. Painted in 1810, this oil on canvas presents the previous sequence: Napoleon extending his hand to the queen, Alexander I still on the steps, and Murat and Talleyrand in the same place... Most of the details (the soldiers' hedge, the buildings, and the arrangement of the characters) are so identical that one could almost speak of plagiarism on the part of Gosse. It was commissioned by Napoleon, who bought it after its exhibition at the Salon of 1810. Gosse took inspiration from it for his, delivered in 1837 for the Versailles Museum. Another painting on the same subject is that of Jean-Charles Tardieu (1808), also kept in Versailles, but the costumes of the protagonists are very different.
(1) At Saint Helena, Napoleon explains Louise's late arrival in his way: “At Tilsit, Alexander had urged the King of Prussia to bring his wife, telling him that it would be good for him. He only wanted it at the end, because he was jealous of Alexander. »
(2) Napoleon went to the mill house in the afternoon to see the queen, before inviting her to dinner in Tilsit. He was staying at Deutsche Strasse 24 with the justice commission advisor Ernst Ludwig Siehr. Funny thing: after the Emperor's departure, the owner discovered that his state bed, gilded and lined with purple silk, had been given by his host to Alexander I of Russia!
(3) This building was demolished in 1945. Nothing remains of Napoleon's house located at 24 Deutsche Strasse, where he hosted the Queen of Prussia: the remains of Napoleon's house (two posts) that are currently being shown in Sovetsk are those of his first residence. The street is now named after Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut.
A rose against Magdeburg
On Saint Helena, Napoleon gives his version of the episode of the rose: “The Queen of Prussia came too late to Tilsit. The king only called him when he saw that he could not obtain anything, but it was too late, everything was arranged. I went to pay her my visit, but she received me in a tragic tone, like Chimène: “Sire, justice, justice, Magdeburg!” She switched to this tone, which embarrassed me greatly: finally, to make her change, I asked her to sit down, nothing cuts a tragic scene better, because when you sit down, it becomes a comedy. She wore a stunning pearl necklace; I congratulated him: “Ah! The beautiful pearls!” We dined with the king, Alexander, the queen, me, etc. During the entire meal, she only spoke to me about Magdeburg. After which the king and the emperor left me alone with her; she pressed me again and I offered her a rose that was there. “Yes, but Magdeburg!” ”Hey, Madam, it’s me who’s offering the rose and not you!” When they had all left, I called for Talleyrand and ordered him to go find the other ministers. I wanted the treaty to be signed that same evening, otherwise I would start the campaign again. The fact is that if she had come earlier, we would have had other conditions, but everything was stopped when she came and I wanted Magdeburg to protect Saxony” (General Gourgaud, Complete Journal, text established, presented and commented by Jacques Macé, Perrin, Paris, 2019, p. 652).
The artist
Nicolas-Louis Gosse, born in 1787, only ended his long life in 1878, after having gone through a multitude of regimes: the end of the reign of Louis XVI, the Revolution, the First Republic, the Consulate, the First Empire, the two Restorations, the July Monarchy, the Second Republic, the Second Empire, the Third Republic... This Parisian apprenticed in the workshop of François-André Vincent, a member of the Academy of Fine Arts, an unlucky rival of Jacques-Louis David. The master teaches his studious students the precision of drawing and contours. Gosse developed a predilection for subjects in the “troubadour” style, which was very popular during the Restoration, at the time of the emergence of romanticism in art and literature. He regularly participates in the Salon and exhibits historical compositions featuring Charles X, Louis-Philippe, and Napoleon. Often awarded awards, Gosse was made a knight and then an officer of the Legion of Honor.
Nowadays, his vast artistic production is scattered among various provincial museums, those of Dijon, Bordeaux, or Dreux to name just a few, and the largest Parisian museums, not to mention the official buildings (the courthouse of Rennes) and churches (Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet in Paris, Vannes Cathedral). The Palace of Versailles museum has several paintings by Gosse, including the one that is the subject of this article.
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