Under the Empire, a delicate passion bloomed in the gardens of Malmaison.
Joséphine de Beauharnais, first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, made the rose the beating heart of her botanical realm.
From 1804 onwards, she curated a collection unmatched in Europe. Over 250 varieties of roses flourished there, from ancient European strains to exotic newcomers like Rosa chinensis..
With the help of botanists and illustrators, she commissioned precise renditions of every specimen. These masterpieces, painted by Pierre-Joseph Redoutécaptured the rose at the intersection of art and science.
Joséphine was more than a collector: she was a visionary.
She encouraged hybridisations, nurtured botanical exchanges, and elevated the th rose note to an imperial symbol of refinement. objet de désir, de savoir et de luxe.
In 1845long after her death, the first rose-dedicated exhibition opened in Lyon, at the Palais Saint-Pierre.A posthumous triumph for the woman who had introduced roses to the halls of power.
Thanks to Joséphine, the rose left behind dusty herbariums and rustic hedgerows to enter the history of cultivated beauty..
Elegant, rare, sovereign.
