Unraveling a Myth: A Misidentified Portrait by Marie-Victoire Lemoine

Abstract

In February 2020 a painting by Marie-Victoire Lemoine (1754–1820) stole the show at Doyle auctioneers in New York (fig. 1). Identified as a portrait of Pauline Leclerc, née Bonaparte, flamboyant sister of Napoleon I, it fetched $387,000, including the buyer’s premium. Its provenance probably helped to drive the price, a record for the artist. According to Doyle, Pauline gave the painting to her brother Joseph Bonaparte, who took it with him into exile in America after the First