Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
Napoleon was named Emperor of France in 1804. In 1808 he signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau with the Spanish court, transferring Tuscany from Spain to France. In November of that year, Maria Luisa, the widow of Ludovico I, left Florence. From 12 May 1808 Tuscany was entrusted to an intermediary governor, Abdallah Jacques Menou, a French soldier who had converted to Islam during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, but his way of life and lack of interest in the territory's affairs forced Napoleon to recall him on 5 April 1809. Élisa wished to become Governess of Tuscany in 1808, but she contracted an illness late in the year that prevented her from taking part in state affairs. She recovered in February 1809. A decree was officially created on 2 March 1809 that established the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, made Florence its capital and Élisa its grand duchess.
Her reign was characterized by a renewed patronage of the arts, and sculptors like Canova and Bartolini, painters like Luigi Sabatelli, and musicians like Spontini and Paisiello were recalled to Florence…. One of the grand duchess’s major projects was the redecoration of apartments she intended for her brother, Napoleon, and his second wife, Maria Luigia of Austria. For this, on the advice of Fontaine, the architect of the Tuileries, she chose an area in the north wing of the piano nobile that had remained in a state of almost complete abandonment after the death of the Electress of the Palatine. The decoration was entrusted to a Florentine Giuseppe Cacialli, a student of Paolettti and a member of the Scrittoio delle Fabbriche under the Lorenese. He was named Crown Architect in 1808. He proposed creating two new apartments, sharing a common anteroom. The arrangement would be similar to that during the Medici period. The apartment for the emperor would include the rooms along the facade, where those decorated by Pietro da Cortona (the Apollo Room, the Mars Room, the Venus Room, and Jupiter Room) would remain the public audience chambers. The four rooms along the interior courtyard, the Stove Room (sala della stufa), the Education of Jupiter Room (sala dell'educazione di Giove), the Ulysses Room (sala di Ulisse), and the Prometheus Room (sala di Prometeo), together with the Music Room (sala della musica) and the small Poccetti's Corridor, would constitute the private residence of the sovereign. The empress would reside in the Volteranno quarter, as had Cristina of Lorraine, Maria Maddalena of Austria, Vittoria della Rovere, and the Electress of the Palatine, Anna Maria Luisa. The empress's apartment would connect with the emperor's rooms through a common anteroom, the Castagnoli Room (sala di Castagnoli). The Iliad Room (sala dei Novissimi) would house the new Gabinetto Topografico.
Her reign was characterized by a renewed patronage of the arts, and sculptors like Canova and Bartolini, painters like Luigi Sabatelli, and musicians like Spontini and Paisiello were recalled to Florence…. One of the grand duchess’s major projects was the redecoration of apartments she intended for her brother, Napoleon, and his second wife, Maria Luigia of Austria. For this, on the advice of Fontaine, the architect of the Tuileries, she chose an area in the north wing of the piano nobile that had remained in a state of almost complete abandonment after the death of the Electress of the Palatine. The decoration was entrusted to a Florentine Giuseppe Cacialli, a student of Paolettti and a member of the Scrittoio delle Fabbriche under the Lorenese. He was named Crown Architect in 1808. He proposed creating two new apartments, sharing a common anteroom. The arrangement would be similar to that during the Medici period. The apartment for the emperor would include the rooms along the facade, where those decorated by Pietro da Cortona (the Apollo Room, the Mars Room, the Venus Room, and Jupiter Room) would remain the public audience chambers. The four rooms along the interior courtyard, the Stove Room (sala della stufa), the Education of Jupiter Room (sala dell'educazione di Giove), the Ulysses Room (sala di Ulisse), and the Prometheus Room (sala di Prometeo), together with the Music Room (sala della musica) and the small Poccetti's Corridor, would constitute the private residence of the sovereign. The empress would reside in the Volteranno quarter, as had Cristina of Lorraine, Maria Maddalena of Austria, Vittoria della Rovere, and the Electress of the Palatine, Anna Maria Luisa. The empress's apartment would connect with the emperor's rooms through a common anteroom, the Castagnoli Room (sala di Castagnoli). The Iliad Room (sala dei Novissimi) would house the new Gabinetto Topografico.
The rooms shown in red were to belong to the emperor, Napoleon. The rooms shown in green were to belong the empress, Maia Luisa of Austria.
The rooms is yellow were to be shared. They included the anteroom, an anteroom for the chapel, the chapel, the family sitting room, and the family dining room.
The rooms is yellow were to be shared. They included the anteroom, an anteroom for the chapel, the chapel, the family sitting room, and the family dining room.
Various proposals by Cacialli from 1810 to 1813 attempted to include the advice he was receiving from the Comitato delle Fabbriche in Paris. One such proposal included the construction of a Primo Salotto for the emperor, a common anteroom shared by the emperor and empress, and a Salotto d’Onore for the empress. The first two were to be created out of smaller rooms, demolishing the walls that separated them; the third was to be created out of a larger room, enabling the creation of a corridor for the private use of the Empress, Maria Luisa of Austria. The Primo Salotto was created out of the Music Room (sala della musica or Drum room) {see #2 below}; the anteroom from the Castagnoli Room (sala del Castagnoli) {see #1 below}, while the Salotto d’Onore was created out of the Hercules Room (sala d’Ercole) {see #3 below.} Adding a new service stairway, as proposed by the committee in Paris, would have required dividing the Stove Room (sala della Stufa), requiring the destruction of Pietro da Cortona’s frescoes. This danger was averted because of the intervention of the French architect, L. M. Berthault, passing through Florence on an official mission to Rome. He sought and received permission to save Pietro da Cortona’s frescoes. and the Stove Room was spared.
Another significant intervention involved the three rooms at the end of the north wing of the piano nobile, the end facing the Boboli garden {see #4 above and below.} These rooms were completely renovated to create an area much different from what had gone before. The new rooms were exquisitely refined, including a bathroom for the empress, with an adjacent little boudoir. But these changes also required the sacrifice of important elements from the past: the destruction of Cristina of Lorraine’s octagonal chapel, built in 1589, as well as the dismantling of apartments that had belonged to Cardinal Giovan Carlo, including the “Paradise of Flowers”, decorated with stuccos by Silvio Ali, as well as a room frescoed by Jacopo Chiavistelli.
The ceiling of Maria Luisa's boudoir.
Maria Luisa's Bathroom
Another elegant bathroom designed for the emperor himself required the destruction of a service stairway that ran from the piano nobile to the attics above. This posed a great risk to the Stove Room (sala della Stufa), as the committee in Paris proposed building a new service stairway in that room.
Projects of such complexity required input from a variety of sources. For the committee in Paris, the first goal was functionality. They hoped to recreate living conditions as close as possible to those found at the Tuileries in Paris. The Italians, on the other hand, were well aware of the great historical and artistic value the palace represented. Cacialli’s intention to create ambiances of great prestige, decorated with marble and columns, ran counter to the values of the Parisian committee. They finally arrived at a compromise: the architect in Florence would have carte blanche with respect to the principal rooms, while the committee in Paris would decide upon the general mechanical systems of all the apartments.
Elisa also turned her attention to rooms on the south side on the piano nobile. Her interventions here involved more essential maintenance, restoration of stuccos, regilding, as well as restoration of many of the tapestries.
Elisa Baciocchi's reign, like that of the Bourbons (Ludovico I and Ludovico II) before her, was brief. With the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna returned Tuscany to the House of Lorrrain, and Ferdinando III returned from exile to his apartments at Palazzo Pitti in 1814.
See also:
Pierre Arizzoli-Clémentel, "Palazzo Pitti durante il periodo napoleonico"; Le sete impero dei palazzi napoleonici: collezioni del Mobilier national; Firenze, 1988, p. 21.
Laura Baldini, "Il periodo napoleonico (1799-1814)"; Gli Appartamenti Reali di Palazzo Pitti/a cura di Marco Chiarini e Serena Padovani, Firenze, 1993, pp. 89-93.
Laura Baldini and Silvesta Bietoletti, "Memorie napoleoniche a Palazzo Pitti: i nuovi quartieri per Napoleone e MariaLuisa d'Austria; Amici di Palazzo Pitti Bolletino 2021; Firenze, 2022, pp. 40-54.
Elisa also turned her attention to rooms on the south side on the piano nobile. Her interventions here involved more essential maintenance, restoration of stuccos, regilding, as well as restoration of many of the tapestries.
Elisa Baciocchi's reign, like that of the Bourbons (Ludovico I and Ludovico II) before her, was brief. With the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna returned Tuscany to the House of Lorrrain, and Ferdinando III returned from exile to his apartments at Palazzo Pitti in 1814.
See also:
Pierre Arizzoli-Clémentel, "Palazzo Pitti durante il periodo napoleonico"; Le sete impero dei palazzi napoleonici: collezioni del Mobilier national; Firenze, 1988, p. 21.
Laura Baldini, "Il periodo napoleonico (1799-1814)"; Gli Appartamenti Reali di Palazzo Pitti/a cura di Marco Chiarini e Serena Padovani, Firenze, 1993, pp. 89-93.
Laura Baldini and Silvesta Bietoletti, "Memorie napoleoniche a Palazzo Pitti: i nuovi quartieri per Napoleone e MariaLuisa d'Austria; Amici di Palazzo Pitti Bolletino 2021; Firenze, 2022, pp. 40-54.