Plon-Plon, Un Bonaparte Rouge Et Or

Exhibition at the Palais Fesch, Ajaccio, 24 June - 2 October 2023

The son of King Jérôme - Napoleon I's youngest brother - brother of Princess Mathilde and cousin of Napoleon III, Prince Napoleon has been known to posterity by the infantile nickname of "Plon-Plon", and was undoubtedly the most reviled Bonaparte of his time.

The "black legend" has tried to portray him as a simple agitator with a dissolute lifestyle and boisterous affairs, a spoilt child who, on the steps of the throne, indulged in a posture of opposition, whereas in reality he was trying to embody within the imperial family a genuine republican political ideal, a radical Bonapartism faithful to the ideas of the Revolution.

This catalogue of the first exhibition ever devoted to Prince Napoleon's role in French artistic life highlights his collection of modern art - he was close to Ingres, a lover of Delacroix, Gérôme and Courbet, and the first buyer of Moreau.

The book also documents his collections of antiques and works of the Italian Renaissance, his residences as Imperial Highness, his role as chairman of the commission for the Universal Exhibition of 1855 and his links with artists, actresses, writers and intellectuals, including George Sand, Dumas, Proudhon and Renan.