Latest news with #Osenat
Times
19-05-2025
- Times
Marie Antoinette's lock of white hair sold for €7,500
A locket containing what is said to be a lock of Marie-Antoinette's hair, cut hours before she was guillotined in 1793, has been sold for €7,500. According to legend, the hair of the 37-year-old queen turned white overnight owing to the stress of her impending execution. The lock, tied with a ribbon and black thread, is indeed white. The buyer at auction was anonymous. The brass locket, slightly damaged on the back, also contains a handwritten note bearing the words: 'The hair of Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France, was given to me by a Commune [revolutionary government] prosecutor in charge of inspections of the Temple prison at the time when this unfortunate woman was detained there.' The author of the note is unknown. Jean-Pierre Osenat, the
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The lock of white hair 'cut from Marie Antoinette' hours before the French queen's execution
At its most extravagant, Marie Antoinette's hair-do was four feet high and boasted a replica of the French warship La Bella Poule, complete with masts and sails. And, according to legend, the French queen's luscious locks turned white from stress the night before her execution in 1793. Now, a piece of jewellery containing what is said to be some of the tragic royal's hair that was cut off before she was put to death has sold at auction for €7,500 (£6,313) in Paris - and the strands are white. The lock is tied with a ribbon and black thread and is curled under glass inside a decorated brass medallion. On the back, a handwritten note by a mystery author reads: 'The hair of Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France, was given to me by a Commune [revolutionary government] prosecutor in charge of inspections of the Temple prison at the time when this unfortunate woman was detained there.' The object sold to an anonymous buyer via Osenat auction house at Versailles outside the French capital. Auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat, told The Times: 'At the time, it was a tradition to give a lock of hair when you wanted to present a gift. 'It was considered to be a proof of love or friendship.' Marie Antoinette's prayer book went unsold at the same auction after its reserve price of €80,000 (£67,389) was not achieved. Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, married Louis XVI in 1774, when she was 14 and the royal just 15. It was said that her smile had an 'enchantment' that could win over 'the most brutal of her enemies'. Her jewellery collection was by far the biggest of any French queen and rivalled only by Empress Josephine, the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. By the end of 1776, Marie Antoinette had a dress allowance of 150,000 livres, at a time when the price of an an average house in a French town was 200 livres. As she gambled, partied and lavished money on whatever took her fancy, she racked up bills of nearly 500,000 livres. Versailles was the centre of fashion at its peak of eccentricity. Wigs were packed with powder and adorned with ribbons, feathers, flowers, fruit and even stuffed birds. Marie Antoinette's biggest passion was her jewels. Louis raided the French crown jewels to allow his queen to indulge her love of rubies, and she was also a particular fan of pearls. But Marie Antoinette never said the words that are most famously associated with her: 'Let them eat cake'. The words were allegedly a dismissal of the suffering of the French people. Her popularity took a further hit in the saga that became known as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace. In 1791, two years after the French Revolution had begun, Marie Antoinette and her husband were captured as they tried to flee Paris. Nine months after her husband's execution, Marie Antoinette was tried and found guilty on exaggerated charges that included high treason, promiscuity and incest with her son. On October 16, 1793, her head was cut off and presented to the cheering crowd.
RTÉ News
28-04-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Napoleon letter denying he ordered pope kidnapping sold at auction
A hand-written letter from Napoleon denying his role in the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII in 1809 was sold at auction on Sunday outside Paris for €26,360, the auctioneer said. The letter, signed "Napole", went on sale the day after the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Monday. The sale price was way above the estimate of €12,000-€15,000, according to the Osenat auction house. The auction's location in Fontainebleau, south of Paris, was highly symbolic as the town was where the head of the Catholic Church was imprisoned after being initially held in Savona in Italy. "This arrest is one of the events that will define Napoleon's reign, at a political and religious level," Jean-Christophe Chataignier, an expert in the Napoleonic era at Osenat said. "Napoleon knows this letter will be made public and that it's intended for authorities everywhere," he added. French forces kidnapped Pope Pius VII in his private apartments in the Quirinal Palace in Rome. He remained a prisoner of Napoleon for five years. The pontiff had sought to maintain the Vatican's sway over the French Catholic Church and resisted Napoleon's desire to exert control over the clergy. 'Against my will' In the letter addressed to French nobleman and ally Jean-Jacques-Regis de Cambaceres, Napoleon feigns ignorance of Pius VII's detention. "It was without my orders and against my will that the pope was taken out of Rome; it is again without my orders and against my will that he is being brought into France," he wrote. "But I was only informed of this 10 or 12 days after it had already been carried out. "From the moment I learn that the pope is staying in a fixed location, and that my intentions can be made known in time and carried out, I will consider what measures I must take...," he added. Napoleon memorabilia regularly comes up for sale at auction in a flourishing trade marked by intense interest from collectors. Two pistols that he once intended to use to kill himself were sold in France last July for €1.7 million, while one of his trademark "bicorne" hats set a record price for his possessions when it was acquired for €1.9m in November 2023. A sword that belonged to Napoleon and was specially ordered for the personal use of the French emperor is to be auctioned in Paris next month, with an estimated price of €700,000 to €1m.
Korea Herald
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Napoleon letter denying he ordered pope kidnapping sold at auction
PARIS (AFP) — A hand-written letter from Napoleon denying his role in the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII in 1809 was sold at auction on Sunday outside Paris for 26,360 euros ($30,000), the auctioneer said. The letter, signed "Napole," went on sale the day after the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Monday. The sale price was way above the estimate of 12,000-15,000 euros, according to the Osenat auction house. The auction's location in Fontainebleau, south of Paris, was highly symbolic as the town was where the head of the Catholic Church was imprisoned after being initially held in Savona in Italy. "This arrest is one of the events that will define Napoleon's reign, at a political and religious level," Jean-Christophe Chataignier, an expert in the Napoleonic era at Osenat, told Agence France-Presse. "Napoleon knows this letter will be made public and that it's intended for authorities everywhere," he added. French forces kidnapped Pope Pius VII in his private apartments in the Quirinal Palace in Rome. He remained a prisoner of Napoleon for five years. The pontiff had sought to maintain the Vatican's sway over the French Catholic Church and resisted Napoleon's desire to exert control over the clergy. "Against my will" In the letter addressed to French nobleman and ally Jean-Jacques-Regis de Cambaceres, Napoleon feigns ignorance of Pius VII's detention. "It was without my orders and against my will that the pope was taken out of Rome; it is again without my orders and against my will that he is being brought into France," he wrote. "But I was only informed of this 10 or 12 days after it had already been carried out. From the moment I learn that the pope is staying in a fixed location, and that my intentions can be made known in time and carried out, I will consider what measures I must take, " he added. Napoleon memorabilia regularly comes up for sale at auction in a flourishing trade marked by intense interest from collectors. Two pistols that he once intended to use to kill himself were sold in France last July for 1.7 million euros, while one of his trademark "bicorne" hats set a record price for his possessions when it was acquired for 1.9 million euros in November 2023. A sword that belonged to Napoleon and was specially ordered for the personal use of the French emperor is to be auctioned in Paris next month, with an estimated price of 700,000 to one million euros.
Express Tribune
28-04-2025
- Express Tribune
Napoleon letter sold at auction for $30,000
This photograph shows a letter dated July 23, 1809, concerning the arrest of Pope Pius VII, written by Napoleon I and signed 'Napole', displayed at the Osenat auction house offices in Paris. PHOTO: AFP A hand-written letter from Napoleon denying his role in the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII in 1809 was sold at auction on Sunday outside Paris for 26,360 euros ($30,000), the auctioneer said. The letter, signed "Napole", went on sale the day after the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Monday. The sale price was way above the estimate of 12,000-15,000 euros, according to the Osenat auction house. The auction's location in Fontainebleau, south of Paris, was highly symbolic as the town was where the head of the Catholic Church was imprisoned after being initially held in Savona in Italy. "This arrest is one of the events that will define Napoleon's reign, at a political and religious level," Jean-Christophe Chataignier, an expert in the Napoleonic era at Osenat, told AFP. "Napoleon knows this letter will be made public and that it's intended for authorities everywhere," he added. French forces kidnapped Pope Pius VII in his private apartments in the Quirinal Palace in Rome. He remained a prisoner of Napoleon for five years. The pontiff had sought to maintain the Vatican's sway over the French Catholic Church and resisted Napoleon's desire to exert control over the clergy. In the letter addressed to French nobleman and ally Jean-Jacques-Regis de Cambaceres, Napoleon feigns ignorance of Pius VII's detention. "It was without my orders and against my will that the pope was taken out of Rome; it is again without my orders and against my will that he is being brought into France," he wrote. "But I was only informed of this 10 or 12 days after it had already been carried out. From the moment I learn that the pope is staying in a fixed location, and that my intentions can be made known in time and carried out, I will consider what measures I must take...," he added.
