by Thierry Sarmant
The Manufacture of Gobelins, The Great Weaponry of the French Empire (detail), 1808-1811, doorframe for the Emperor's grand cabinet in the Tuileries, tapestry after Jacques-Louis de La Hamayde de Saint-Ange, on a cartoon by François Dubois, Mobilier national. Isabelle Bideau
Few rulers have had as many palaces as Napoleon Bonaparte. First Consul of the Republic, he settled in the Tuileries Palace in 1800 and chose the Chateau of Saint-Cloud as his secondary residence in 1802. As French Emperor, he expanded the number of properties in France and as part of the "Great Empire" renovated Fontainebleau in 1804 and gave the Chateau of Meudon to his son in 1811. He also undertook a number of grander projects, such as a possible move to Versailles and the construction of a new imperial palace, the "Palace of the King of Rome". However, during the fifteen years of his government, it is not clear whether Napoleon ever managed to find the palace of his dreams... https://www.gazette-drouot.com/en/article/napoleon-s-impossible-palace/24016https://www.gazette-drouot.com/en/article/napoleon-s-impossible-palace/24016