Eugène de Beauharnais, faience bust

Eugène de Beauharnais.
Fine faience bust.
East of France, first quarter of the 19th century.
E crowned monogram.


Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, was born on September 3, 1781 in Paris and died in February 21, 1824 in Munich. He was Alexandre de Beauharnais and Marie-Josèphe Tascher de la Pagerie’s son. His widow mother was best know as Joséphine after she took Napoleon I as her second husband. Eugène was one of Napoleon’s most devoted and skilled subordinate, he was named the Arch-Chancellor of State the French Empire and was rewarded by the title of Great-Eagle of the Honour at only 24 years old. On June 7, 1805, he was charged with the title of Viceroy of Italy and, consequently, with the administration of the Italy kingdom. One year later, Napoleon officially adopted him, making him the heir of the crown of Italy. He married the princess Augusta-Amémoe de Bavière the same year.
In 1812, he was named general-in-chief and ordered french, italian and bavarian forces under the 4th army corps during the french invasion of Russia. This campaign led him to the higher point of his military career, he acted like a hero during the retreat but the terrible conditions of life he had to endure aged him prematurely.
When Napoleon abdicated, riots in Munich and his minister of finance's murder, forced him to give up his Italian trone. He found refuge in Bavaria at his family-in-law’s and stopped all political and military activity. He stayed powerless in Bavaria during the Cents Jours and the Waterloo’s defeat. His father-in-law gave him the Leuchtenberg duchy in 1817 and he died at only 42 years old in Munich.
This faience bust was executed in the East of France, probably by Luneville’s manufacture. Eugène de Beauharnais was close to the end of his life when he was portrayed here, between 1815 and 1824, when he was staying in Bavaria.