Head of Ares

Description of Pauline Bonaparte

Buste de la princesse Pauline Borghèse, Jean-Baptiste Isabey (Louvre)

“At dinner, I was placed next Paulette, who, remembering that she had met me at Marseilles, knowing me to be in possession of her secrets since I was the confidential friend of her future husband, treated me as an old acquaintance. She was a singular combination of the most perfect physical beauty and the most bizarre moral qualities. If she was the most lovely person one could possibly see, she was also the most unreasonable that one could imagine. She behaved like a schoolgirl, speaking at random, laughing at nothing and at everything, making fun of the most serious persons, putting out her tongue at her sister-in-law when she was not looking, nudging my knee when I did not pay sufficient attention to her pranks, and attracting to herself from time to time those terrible glances with which her brother called the most untractable men to order. But they made hardly any impression on her; the next moment she would begin again, and the authority of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy fell to pieces before the giddiness of a little girl. Nevertheless, she was a good child by nature rather than from a desire to be such, for she had no principle and was capable of doing good merely from caprice.”

— The poet Arnault

[Italics in original]

*Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy is Napoleon.

Source: The Sisters of Napoleon: Elisa, Pauline, and Caroline Bonaparte, After the Testimony of Their Contemporaries, by Joseph Turquan and W. R. H. Trowbridge

From Arnault, Souvenirs d'un Sexagénaire

Lorenzo Valles (Spanish, 1831-1910) Paulina Borghese in Antonio Canova's studio, n.d.

What makes a good museum? Is it the lighting? The interpretation? The little cafe that serves delicious teas and pastries? Come along with Cosi and I as we chat about our favourite museums and what makes them so engaging!

”Busts” - Villa Borghese, Rome Italy

US Vogue February 1988

Rachel Williams wears a cropped yellow jacket over a black crepe jumpsuit. Ultrasuede jacket. By Geoffrey Beene. Beauty note: Borghese Peach Passione lipstick. Hairstyle, Orlando Raphael, makeup, Andrea Paoletti.

Rachel Williams porte une veste jaune courte sur une combinaison en crêpe noir. Veste Ultrasuede. Par Geoffrey Beene. Note beauté : rouge à lèvres Peach Passione de Borghese. Coiffure, Orlando Raphael, maquillage, Andrea Paoletti.

Photo Irving Penn vogue archive

The Borghese Gallery, Rome, ITALY

Ceilings of Rome (11.10.22-15.10.22)

Okay, I’m surprised. Apparently, a descendant of the Borghese family wrote a novel about Pauline Bonaparte. Did you know this, Neighbors?

Head of Ares

Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Victrix by Canova

Apollon et Daphné

Temple of Asclepius in the gardens of Villa Borghese in Rome (c.1899)

Aleksander Gierymski

The National Museum in Szczecin

Villa Borghese Ceilings - Rome, Italy