L’extraordinaire collection de Caroline Murat, reine des arts à Naples sous Napoléon, remise en lumière au château de Chantilly
The Château de Chantilly has opened a major exhibition reconstructing the nearly forgotten art collection of Caroline Murat, sister of Napoleon I and Queen of Naples from 1808 to 1815. Organized in partnership with the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the show brings together around a hundred works—including loans from the châteaux of Fontainebleau and Versailles, Neapolitan museums, and private collectors—to trace Murat's patronage of artists such as Antonio Canova, Joseph Rebell, Auguste de Forbin, and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Highlights include a newly rediscovered hat of Napoleon that he took to Saint Helena and a sculpture of Cupid and Psyche by Canova now at the Louvre.
This exhibition matters because it restores Caroline Murat to her rightful place as one of the great female patrons of the Napoleonic era, alongside Joséphine de Beauharnais. It sheds light on a collection that was long poorly studied and dispersed after the fall of Napoleon, with many works eventually ending up at the Musée Condé through the Duke of Aumale. By reuniting pieces from French and Italian institutions, the show offers a fresh understanding of how Murat used the arts to legitimize her rule and transform Naples into a vibrant cultural center during a brief but intense period of French influence.