Joseph Fesch
Encyclopedia
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
, closely associated with the family of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was also one of the most famous art collectors of his period.
Biography
Fesch was born at AjaccioAjaccio
Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....
in Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
. His father, a Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
officer in the service of the Genoese Republic, had married the mother of Laetitia Bonaparte
Letizia Ramolino
Nobile Maria Letizia Buonaparte née Ramolino was the mother of Napoleon I of France....
, after the death of her first husband. Fesch therefore fulfilled the role of an uncle to the young Bonapartes, and after the 1791 death of Luciano Buonaparte, archdeacon of Ajaccio
Ajaccio
Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....
, he became for a time the protector and patron of the family. In 1789, when the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
broke out, he was archdeacon of Ajaccio, and, like the majority of the Corsicans, he felt repugnance for many of the acts of the French government during that period; in particular he protested against the application to Corsica of the act known as the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government....
(July 1790). As provost of the "chapter" in that city he directly felt the pressure of events; for on the suppression of religious orders and corporations, he was constrained to retire into private life.
Thereafter he shared the fortunes of the Napoleon Bonaparte family in the intrigues and strifes which ensued. Drawn gradually into espousing the French cause against Pasquale Paoli
Pasquale Paoli
Filippo Antonio Pasquale di Paoli , was a Corsican patriot and leader, the president of the Executive Council of the General Diet of the People of Corsica...
and the Anglophiles, he was forced to leave Corsica and to proceed with Laetitia and her son to Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
, in early autumn, 1793. Failing to find clerical duties at that time (the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
), he took several posts in civil life, until on the appointment of Napoleon Bonaparte to the command of the French "Army of Italy
Army of Italy (France)
The Army of Italy was a Field army of the French Army stationed on the Italian border and used for operations in Italy itself. Though it existed in some form in the 16th century through to the present, it is best known for its role during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic...
" he became a commissary attached to that army. This part of his career is obscure, but his fortunes rose rapidly when Napoleon became First Consul, after the coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
of 18 Brumaire
18 Brumaire
The coup of 18 Brumaire was the coup d'état by which General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the French Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate...
(November 1799). When the restoration of the Roman Catholic religion was in the mind of the First Consul, Fesch resumed his clerical vocation and took an active part in the complex negotiations which led to the signing of the Concordat
Concordat of 1801
The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status....
with the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
on July 15, 1801. His reward came in being made Archbishop of Lyon in August 1802. Six months later he received a further reward for his past services, being raised to the dignity of cardinal.
Appointed by Napoleon 4 April 1803 to succeed Cacault on the latter's retirement from the position of French ambassador at Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Fesch was assisted by Châteaubriand
François-René de Chateaubriand
François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.-Early life and exile:...
, but soon sharply differed with him on many questions. Towards the close of 1804, Napoleon entrusted to Fesch the difficult task of securing the presence of Pope Pius VII
Pope Pius VII
Pope Pius VII , born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti, was a monk, theologian and bishop, who reigned as Pope from 14 March 1800 to 20 August 1823.-Early life:...
at the forthcoming coronation of the emperor at Notre Dame, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(December 2, 1804). His tact in overcoming the reluctance of the pope (it was only eight months after the execution of the duc d'Enghien) received further recognition. He received the grand cordon of the Legion d'Honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
, became grand-almoner of the empire and had a seat in the French senate. He was to receive further honours. In 1806 one of the most influential of the German clerics, Karl von Dalberg, then prince-bishop of Regensburg, chose him to be his coadjutor and desgnated him as his successor.
Subsequent events damaged his prospects. In the course of the years 1806-1807 Napoleon came into sharp collision with the pope on various matters both political and religious. Fesch sought in vain to reconcile them. Napoleon was inexorable in his demands, and Pius VII refused to give way where the discipline and vital interests of the church seemed to be threatened. The emperor several times rebuked Fesch for what he thought to be weakness and ingratitude. It is clear, however, that the cardinal went as far as possible in counselling the submission of the spiritual to the civil power. For a time he was not on speaking terms with the pope; and Napoleon recalled him from Rome.
Affairs came to a crisis in the year 1809, when Napoleon issued at Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
the decree of May 17, ordering the annexation of the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
to the French empire. In that year Napoleon conferred on Fesch the archbishopric of Paris, but he refused the honour. He, however, consented to take part in an ecclesiastical commission formed by the emperor from among the dignitaries of the Gallican Church
Gallican Church
The Gallican Church was the Catholic Church in France from the time of the Declaration of the Clergy of France to that of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution....
, but in 1810 the commission was dissolved. The hopes of Fesch with respect to Regensburg were also damped by an arrangement of the year 1810 whereby Regensburg was absorbed in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
.
In the year 1811 the emperor convoked a national council of Gallican clerics for the discussion of church affairs, and Fesch was appointed to preside over their deliberations. Here again, however, he failed to satisfy the inflexible emperor and was dismissed to his diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
. The friction between uncle and nephew became more acute in the following year. In June 1812, Pius VII was brought from his first place of detention, Savona
Savona
Savona is a seaport and comune in the northern Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea....
, to Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau...
, where he was kept under surveillance in the hope that he would give way in certain matters relating to the Concordat and in other clerical affairs. Fesch ventured to write to the aged pontiff a letter which came into the hands of the emperor. His anger against Fesch was such that he stopped the sum of 150,000 forms which had been accorded to him.
The disasters of the years 1812-1813 brought Napoleon to treat Pius VII with more lenity and the position of Fesch thus became for a time less difficult. On the first abdication of Napoleon (April 11, 1814) and the restoration of the Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
s, he, however, retired to Rome where he received a welcome. The events of the Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
(March–June, 1815) brought him back to France; he resumed his archiepiscopal duties at Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
and was further named a member of the senate. On the second abdication of the emperor (June 22, 1815) Fesch retired to Rome, where he spent the rest of his days in dignified ease, surrounded by numerous masterpieces of art, many of which he bequeathed to the cities of Lyon and Ajaccio. He died at Rome.
Paintings owned by Fesch
The Fesch collection included almost 16,000 paintings (not all at the same time). The core was Italian works of the Renaissance to the 18th century, but Fesch also had a number of Dutch Golden Age paintingDutch Golden Age painting
Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history generally spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years War for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republic was the most prosperous nation in Europe, and led European trade,...
s and contemporary French works, as well as a number of classical sculptures. Fesch was a fairly early collector of Quattrocento
Quattrocento
The cultural and artistic events of 15th century Italy are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento...
paintings, or "Italian Primitives". The Musée Fesch
Musée Fesch
The musée Fesch is the central museum of fine arts in Ajaccio on Corsica. It is located in the town's Borgu d'Ajaccio quarter, in Palais Fesch on Rue Cardinal Fesch. It was set up by Napoleon I's uncle cardinal Joseph Fesch in Fesch's birthplace and includes one of France's finest collections of...
, Ajaccio contains much of Fesch's collection, including works by Botticelli, Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it...
, Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
and others. Another part, including the works considered most important, was sold by auction in 1845. Paintings not in Lyons or Ajaccio include:
- The Entombment (Michelangelo), National Gallery, LondonNational Gallery, LondonThe National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
- St. Jerome in the WildernessSt. Jerome in the WildernessSt Jerome in the Wilderness is an unfinished painting by Leonardo da Vinci, now in the Vatican Museums, Rome.-Description:The painting depicts Saint Jerome during his retreat to the Syrian desert, where he lived the life of a hermit...
, Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, Vatican MuseumsVatican MuseumsThe Vatican Museums , in Viale Vaticano in Rome, inside the Vatican City, are among the greatest museums in the world, since they display works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries, including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and... - Adoration of the Shepherds (Giorgione)Adoration of the Shepherds (Giorgione)The Adoration of the Shepherds , sometimes still known as the Allendale Nativity or "Adoration", after a former owner, is a painting by the Italian painter of the Renaissance, Giorgione, in about 1500. The attribution is now usual, although not universal; the usual other view is that it is an early...
, NGA, Washington, who also have a Nativity by Perino del Vaga, Saint Martin Dividing His Cloak by Jan BoeckhorstJan BoeckhorstJan Boeckhorst , was a German-born Flemish Baroque painter whose style was heavily influenced by Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens.-Biography:...
and The Larder by Antonio Maria VassalloAntonio Maria VassalloAntonio Maria Vassallo was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Genoa, and painting mythologic scenes and still lifes....
. - Mond CrucifixionMond CrucifixionThe Mond Crucifixion is a painting by the Italian renaissance artist Raphael....
, RaphaelRaphaelRaffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, National Gallery, London - Portrait of a Seated Woman with a HandkerchiefPortrait of a Seated Woman with a HandkerchiefPortrait of a Seated Woman with a Handkerchief is a painting at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Today it is attributed to Carel Fabritius, but previoulsy it had long been considered a work by Rembrandt....
, now attributed to Carel FabritiusCarel FabritiusCarel Fabritius was a Dutch painter and one of Rembrandt's most gifted pupils.-Biography:Fabritius was born in Beemster, the ten-year old polder, as the son of a schoolteacher. Initially he worked as a carpenter . In the early 1640s he studied at Rembrandt's studio in Amsterdam, along with his...
rather than Rembrandt, Art Gallery of OntarioArt Gallery of OntarioUnder the direction of its CEO Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO embarked on a $254 million redevelopment plan by architect Frank Gehry in 2004, called Transformation AGO. The new addition would require demolition of the 1992 Post-Modernist wing by Barton Myers and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg...
, Totonto. - Adoration of the Magi, BramantinoBramantinoBartolomeo Suardi, best known as Bramantino , was an Italian painter and architect, mainly active in his native Milan.-Biography:...
, National Gallery, London, who have other works including a Philippe de ChampaignePhilippe de ChampaignePhilippe de Champaigne was a Flemish-born French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French school.-Early life:Born in Brussels of a poor family, Champaigne was a pupil of the landscape painter Jacques Fouquières...
Vision of St Joseph, a Vincenzo FoppaVincenzo FoppaVincenzo Foppa was a Northern-Italian Renaissance painter.He was an elderly contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci. Born at Bagnolo Mella, near Brescia in the Republic of Venice, he settled in Pavia around 1456, serving the dukes of Milan and emerging as one of the most prominent Lombard painters....
& a Botticelli. - Last Judgement Fra AngelicoFra AngelicoFra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"...
, in the Gemäldegalerie, BerlinGemäldegalerie, BerlinThe Gemäldegalerie is an art museum in Berlin, Germany. It holds one of the world's leading collections of European art from the 13th to the 18th centuries. It is located on Kulturforum west of Potsdamer Platz. Its collection includes masterpieces from such artists as Albrecht Dürer, Lucas...
. - The Broken Mirror, Greuze, Wallace CollectionWallace CollectionThe Wallace Collection is a museum in London, with a world-famous range of fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries with large holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms & armour, porcelain and Old Master paintings arranged into 25 galleries.It was established in...
, London, who have another Greuze, a Anthony van DyckAnthony van DyckSir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next...
Virgin and Child, a Philippe de Champaigne Annunciation, and a HobbemaMeindert HobbemaMeindert Hobbema , was a landscape painter of the Dutch school.-Life:The facts of his life are somewhat obscure. His chronology and signed pictures substantially contradict each other...
. - Hunting in the Lagoon, Vittore CarpaccioVittore CarpaccioVittore Carpaccio was an Italian painter of the Venetian school, who studied under Gentile Bellini. He is best known for a cycle of nine paintings, The Legend of Saint Ursula. His style was somewhat conservative, showing little influence from the Humanist trends that transformed Italian...
, Getty Museum, originally part of the same composition as his Two Venetian LadiesTwo Venetian LadiesTwo Venetian Ladies is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Vittore Carpaccio.The painting, believed to be a quarter of the original work, was executed around 1490 and shows two unknown Venetian ladies. The top portion of the panel, called Hunting on the Lagoon is in the Getty Museum, and... - Saints George and Dominic, side panels from an altarpiece, Carlo CrivelliCarlo CrivelliCarlo Crivelli was an Italian Renaissance painter of conservative Late Gothic decorative sensibility, who spent his early years in the Veneto, where he absorbed influences from the Vivarini, Squarcione and Mantegna...
, Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the... - Lamentation of Christ, Scipione PulzoneScipione PulzoneScipione Pulzone , also known as Il Gaetano, was an Italian late Renaissance Mannerist or, more properly, "counter-Maniera" painter active in Rome...
, MMA
External links
- Spencer Napoleonica Collection at Newberry LibraryNewberry LibraryThe Newberry Library is a privately endowed, independent research library for the humanities and social sciences in Chicago, Illinois. Although it is private, non-circulating library, the Newberry Library is free and open to the public...
Coat of arms of S.E. Cardinal Joseph Fesch