PORCELAIN & PROPAGANDA: The Empress Josephine’s decorative arts collection at the Chateau de Malmaison with Sylvia Sagona

Napoleon Bonaparte was more fascinated by Josephine’s aristocratic network and exquisite taste than he was by her well rehearsed femininity and frivolous Creole charm.

Their home at Malmaison is a splendid example of the styles she would make famous. Exported throughout her husband’s new Empire, her taste was adopted by all the courts of Europe.    

Sylvia Sagona is a fellow of the School of languages at the University of Melbourne and specialises in 19th Century French art and society.