Laure Junot, Who Shaped the Napoleonic Era

New this week, we have a beautiful charcoal drawing with an intriguing identity that takes us to the very heart of Napoleonic France. Drawn by 'Madame La Comtesse de Permon Comnènes', this appears to be a reference to the recently married Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantès (1784–1838) (née Permon Comnènes). Laure Junot stands as one of the most influential figures in shaping the Napoleonic era: she was no statesman, military or civil leader, but she was a hugely well connected member of the court of Napoleon. An old family friend of the Bonaparte’s from Corsica (indeed, her mother was once proposed to by Napoleon), she married one of his oldest friends, Andoche Junot, thus moving in the highest circles in Paris. Her brother received lessons from the Claude-Joseph Vernet, and it appears she also received masterful instruction in drawing. Laure Junot went on to have an affair with the author Honore Balzac and write her own, and Napoleon's, scandalous memoirs.