4 - ALPHONSE GIROUX HOUSE (Attributed to)

ALPHONSE GIROUX HOUSE (Attributed to) Sideboard, in gilded bronze and glass engraved with a grinding wheel, decorated with flowers and foliage; bamboo-style uprights; resting on straight legs at the back and slightly curved legs at the front. At the top, an oval medallion bearing the crowned letter “M” of Princess Mathilde Bonaparte. Napoleon III period (Minor chips and some bent elements) H 120 cm - W 63 cm - D 30 cm A side table in gilt bronze and wheel-engraved glass. Napoleon III period. (Minor chips and some bent elements) 47 1/4 x 24 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. PROVENANCE: Princess Mathilde Bonaparte Collection Madeleine Castaing Collection Gift from Madeleine Castaing to the current owner Private collection, Paris BIBLIOGRAPHY: “Le XIXe siècle français,” Collection Connaissance des Arts, Hachette, Paris, 1958; our model is referenced on p. 147 under no. 7 Emily Evans Eerdmans, “Madeleine Castaing,” Éditions du Regard, Paris, 2010, pp. 82 and 161 HISTORY: Mathilde Bonaparte, known as Princess Mathilde (1820–1904). The daughter of King Jerome of Westphalia (Napoleon I’s youngest brother) and sister of Prince Napoleon, Princess Mathilde was first proposed to by her cousin Louis-Napoleon, the future Napoleon III; but this plan did not come to fruition, and she married a Russian prince, Anatole Demido, from whom she separated after four years. When Napoleon III began his career, she was closely involved and assisted him, serving in a role somewhat akin to that of a hostess; after the Emperor’s marriage, she lived outside the Tuileries and led a free life in Paris or Saint-Gratien, according to her own tastes. She patronized writers, regardless of their political views: Flaubert, Gautier, Sainte-Beuve, the Goncourt brothers, and Taine were regulars in her salons; she exhibited watercolors and paintings that lacked much originality. After September 4, 1870, and the fall of the Empire, she took refuge for a time in Belgium but ended her long life in France. She will be remembered in history as an enlightened patron who helped Pasteur, protected Gounod, encouraged Nadar, commissioned a triumphal bust from Carpeaux, and gathered eminent writers around her.