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Premium ROUILLAC
271
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[First Empire – Sweden]
See original version (French)
271
-
[First Empire – Sweden]
See original version (French)
Estimate €300 - €600
Voluntary lot
Description
[First Empire – Sweden]
Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte (1799–1859), later Oscar I, King of Sweden
Letter from the author, 28 December 1815, addressed to Rose Clary, his aunt and wife of Antoine Ignace Anthoine, Baron de Saint-Joseph, 1 page in-4° on laid paper
My Dear Aunt. It was with great sorrow that I learnt of the recent loss you have suffered. Although I am deeply grieved by it myself, I shall nevertheless try to offer you some consolation; for it is a comfort to the unfortunate to know that their sorrows are shared by their friends. No doubt your misfortune is very great; but you still have dear Julie, whose lovely qualities are praised by everyone. Through her tenderness towards you and her care, she will still be able to make you love life once more; this duty, I am sure, will be very dear to her heart, and were I near you, I would take great pleasure in fulfilling it alongside her. Farewell, my dear Aunt; I send my love to you and to Julie. May you always be assured of the friendship with which your nephew regards you...
A moving and extremely rare letter written in his youth (aged 16) in French by the young prince and addressed to his maternal aunt, Rose Clary (wife of Antoine-Ignace Anthoine, Baron de Saint-Joseph and former mayor of Marseille).
Written in the aftermath of the defeat at Waterloo and the definitive collapse of the First Empire, this intimate letter bears witness to the solidarity and dismay of the Clary family in the face of the upheavals of the Second Restoration. The young Oscar offers his condolences to his aunt on a ‘new loss’. He also speaks fondly of his aunt Julie Clary (the former Queen of Spain and Naples, whose husband, Joseph Bonaparte, had just fled into exile in the United States).
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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