#roustam

[microcosme11]

Napoleon Addressing the 2nd Corps of his Army at the Bridge over the Lech at Augsburg, Germany, on October 12, 1805 by Claude Gautherot, 1808.

wikimedia

[empirearchives]

I found this neat portrait of Roustam Raza made by Hortense de Beauharnais! Circa 1800s

Roustam was Napoleon’s bodyguard and valet, and Hortense was Napoleon’s stepdaughter. Roustam was an Armenian Mameluke in Egypt, originally from Tbilisi. He became employed by Napoleon during the Egypt campaign in 1799, following him back to Europe, and remained by his side until Napoleon’s abdication in 1814. He lived the rest of his life in France.

TEFAF Maastricht

[empirearchives]

Napoleon almost becomes a victim of friendly fire

From the memoir of Roustam Raza:

My wife was seven months pregnant when I left for the Prussian and Polish campaign, which lasted eleven months. The first major battle was fought at Jena, and the entire Prussian army was destroyed in a matter of days, but before the battle, at night, the Emperor himself wanted to visit the outposts, accompanied by two marshals, Prince Borghese, Marshal Duroc, and me who never left his side.

The Emperor visited the left wing of the army, and he wanted to go past the sentries to visit the right. One moment, we’d reached the end of the line, and they were firing at the Emperor. They thought we were the enemy. We all surrounded the Emperor on all sides, so that the bullets wouldn’t hit him, and we shouted: “Cease fire, we are French!” Finally, the firing ceased, and we returned to our ranks, in no danger whatsoever.

Source: Souvenirs de Roustam, mamelouck de Napoléon Ier

[empirearchives]

So Roustam wasn’t told about the 18 Brumaire thing ahead of time. He was told that Napoleon and Duroc “went on a walk” in Paris and then randomly both got murdered 😭😭 Apparently Josephine even pretended(?) to pass out on the sofa. So Roustam gets told this and he starts sobbing and everyone else was really upset because they all thought Napoleon and Duroc were dead. Then later he sees Napoleon randomly show up on a horse and he’s still alive. So everyone who had been crying then starts celebrating like hooray you’re not dead… lmaooo

[empirearchives]

Roustam’s first impression and description of Napoleon:

[empirearchives]

Napoleon

ft. one of Napoleon’s marshals and a freed mamluk, possibly Roustam Raza

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French

Edward Ancourt, French

1895

Source: The Met

[microcosme11]

Roustam Raza by Matthieu Ignace van Bree. wikimedia

[bougredane]

Well, surely he can’t be called « l’âne » …

Some neat little drawings by Mathieu Ignace van Brée (1773-1839). Saw the Duroc one at the Napoléon Stratège expo at the Army Museum two years ago and wondered if there might be any more. 

The O.G. boy :

And some others of the crew :

Roustam :

Suspiciously Tranquil Talleyrand 

Masséna, having stolen your watch, your pants, and your wife.

Bodyless Soult. Or maybe he’s not wearing a shirt, ate all of his own baked goods, and swelled to a size inexpressible on a sheet of notebook paper. 

And, apparently, some baby-faced person called « L’anne ». Here’s to hoping our artist friend never got around to drawing Lanusse with those spelling skills ….

More at : https://www.photo.rmn.fr/CS.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2CMFCI58R9J0K&PN=1#/SearchResult&VBID=2CMFCI58R9J0K&PN=1 if anyone’s interested. 

Word of warning - there’s rather a lot of civil servant portraits to sift through, but worth a look in any case.