A biography of a woman whose seductive beauty and tragic marriage
repeatedly pulls us back for another look.
Alexandra Deutsch literally "unpacks" Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte's
personal belongings in this intuitively sophisticated material culture
biography of the woman whose seductive beauty and tragic marriage
repeatedly pulls us back for another look and, ideally, a deeper
understanding of the person behind the celebrity. In addition to letters
and portraits, Deutsch found bits of the story in previously overlooked
objects in the vast Bonaparte family collections. Long overlooked
textile scraps, for example, tell rich stories of forgiveness gifts from
Jerome to Elizabeth. A lone red account book contains a record of her
finances, yet turned 180 degrees reads like a journal, providing "some
of the most powerful evidence of Elizabeth's internal struggles" during
the French trial over her son's legitimacy. The volume is likely one of
the five in which she recorded a "skeleton" of a memoir.
Deutsch pays equal attention to the lives of Elizabeth's son Jerome
Napoleon Bonaparte, "Bo," and grandsons Jerome Jr. and Charles, deftly
exploring how the members of these next generations defined and
perpetuated their royal heritage through material possessions. This work
truly expands Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte's story beyond the
"mésalliance" with Napoleon's younger brother and reveals the complex
life of a romantic and rebellious young woman whose deep hurt drove her
to the courts of Europe and who ultimately found comfort and
satisfaction in her hard-won financial independence. In this
well-balanced and exceptionally sensitive work, Elizabeth Patterson
Bonaparte finally breathes.
