May 12, 2025 - Fontainebleau in all it’s splendour.

 Today, we will visit the Château at Fontainebleau. It’s a much quieter day here today, which will be nice for our tour of the Palace. We get an audio guide to take us through the tour. We will spend the next four hours going through this magnificent home of French Monarchs. The opulence of those times were absolutely unimaginable.

This is a map showing Napoleon’s placement of relatives throughout Europe in order to gain power. He was a smart little bugger. 

Napoleon’s battle garb. 

His personal manicure kit while travelling. 

Napoleon’s first wife Josephine de Beauharnais. She could not bear him an heir so he moved on to a new wife. His second wife’s name was Mary Louise, Duchess of Parma

Portrait of Napoleon

Death mask of Napoleon’s son Napoleon from Mary Louise. He was only 21 when he died

A baby picture of young Napoleon II dressed as though he would become the next emperor.

These are some baby toys from the young Napoleon II

Napoleon I

Napoleon‘s son’s cradle.

This was a book that the young child was taught from.

Showing the genealogy of the Bonaparte family. 

This was the game’s room of Marie Antoinette

Napoleon‘s throne room

Napoleon‘s bedroom

And he had another bed to rest in in his study. You will notice that most of the colours were green, which was supposed to be a restful color. It is said that he was an insomniac and would just sleep for brief times throughout the night and day.

This is the very table that Napoleon accepted his abdication and was sent to the island of Elba in exile.

Oh my God, more stairs. Thank God they’re all down.

Near is the village of Barbizon, well known for its attraction to painters. It sits between the forest of Fontainebleau and fields of grain. In 1827 when Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot discovered the small hamlet it become a destination for painters “from nature” who could create works of art “in situ”. Today, you still see a place of beauty and tranquillity and still a place for artists, to learn and paint scenery They talk about a school of painting but the Barbizon “school” is the name given to oil painters and others who were part of an art movement advancing Realism in art, which arose due to the abundance of painters gathering there.

This is a war memorial for the men that did not come home to Barbizon. Each village recorded these details in either the wall of the church or in a separate memorial.

Another GREAT day!!