An archive of primary source material relating to Joachim Murat, Marshal of France and King of Naples
Joachim attended to his children’s education with utmost care, since their future, despite his apparent optimism, filled him with vague apprehensions. He wanted them to have a full education, in order for them, if necessary one day, to be self-sufficient. Aside from equitation and dance, it was his wish that they learned German and English. 'I’m …
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Sketch of Joachim Murat & his family, by Paolo Girgenti, 1815; and an embroidered painting based on the drawing. The latter was on public display for a time at the Palazzo Reale in Naples, in an exhibition on Murat near the 200th anniversary of his death. And, lastly, a detail from the above.
Watercolor of Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, in the Silver Salon at the Elysée Palace in Paris, painted in 1810 by Louis Hippolyte Lebas. Caroline spent the majority of 1810 in Paris ostensibly to assist her brother Napoleon’s new Empress, Marie-Louise, with the running of her new household at court, but also to promote the …
Two miniatures of Murat, by Jean-Baptiste Isabey.
Source: The Court and Camp of Bonaparte, issue 29 of Harper's family library. New York (J. & J. Harper), 1833. Pgs 332-333.
The following letter was written by Eugène de Beauharnais, adopted son of Napoleon (and therefore Murat’s nephew by marriage) to Murat in the days following Murat’s treaty with the Allies, as Murat continued to stall at, and agonize over, the prospect of taking up arms against his own countrymen at the Allies’ behest. Source: The Romance …
Continue reading “These conflicts which arise in your heart do not astonish me…”
The following correspondence was conducted in the wake of Murat’s defection to the Allies in 1814, as Napoleon attempted to bring his errant brother-in-law back into the fold before it was too late. It is worth noting that Joseph Bonaparte declines, in his letter to Murat, to “point out to him the iniquity of his …
Miniature portrait of Joachim & Caroline Murat. Artist and date unknown.
An anecdote regarding Murat’s unfortunate tenure as commander of the Grand Armée during the disastrous retreat from Russia in 1812. “Ready to harness, I waited, when around eight or nine o'clock I was summoned by the King of Naples. He was in a carriage; and, surprised to see in passing 16 guns in good condition …
Source: Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon, by Constant, Premier Valet de Chambre, Vol. III, translated by Walter Clark. Akron (The Saalfield Pub. Co.), 1900, pgs 207-208.
Project Murat 