Tour of Château de Malmaison in France with Michael Canadas and David Robinson

It looks right out of a novel, doesn't it? It does. It's out of a historical novel. Where are we? We are at Malmaison. This was the home of Josephine Bonaparte. And we're delighted to be here because this is what I love and David loves. We love to come to special places that we're the only ones here. Well, that we know of. We haven't been inside. But this one is for Jenny Tellian. Yes. A beautiful French girl who lives in Southern California. And we're here because she mentioned it in a comment. So we thought, that's a place we've never been. We've never been. So that's why we're here. It's for you, Jenny. Yes. So we're going to go in and have a little looky peeky. We know it's going to be beautiful. We know it's going to be beautiful because... Well, I hope they allow pictures or filming, but if not, we'll figure something out. We will. And we better get in before all these kinders are coming. Okay, so let's toodle. Yes. Oh, boy. Oh, there's a lot of them here. I'll show you guys. Look it. Look it. Why don't we go in this pavilion? No, let's get in before they get in. You should never have said we're alone. I never should have said we're alone. You jinxed it. This is amazing. Look at the shrubs how they're beautifully cut. Looks like they're planting the winter plantings. And they're probably planting the plant that Josephine has always done or always did. But look at the last. It's beautiful. Look at this. I wish you guys could smell. Oh, smell that. Oh, that's actually divine. That's amazing. You've got to smell this. I feel like it's kind of like the running of the bulls, though, guys. You better get going. They're coming. But that smells amazing. Sometimes roses don't really smell. And that one was incredible. That's the new roses. Old roses always have a smell. Oh, okay. Well, look at this amazing place. Yes. Wow. 1799 was the year that Josephine bought Malmaison. While her husband, General Bonaparte, was on campaign in Egypt. We have entered a side entrance. This would be used by family and friends. But if we were coming in for the main show, we would go in the center front. And we would be greeted by this epic portrait of General Bonaparte. Napoleon depicted on a white horse really crossed the Alps on a donkey. But that wouldn't make for a great painting. This masterpiece is by David. The receiving room is decorated with many portraits of people from faraway lands. The diplomatic reception room is filled with all kinds of treasures. Family portraits and an incredible suite of Amazon furniture. Josephine lived in Malmaison until her death in 1814. Napoleon spent his last days in France at Malmaison until 1815. Ultimately, their beautiful home was sold to the Dowager Queen of Spain. It would be Josephine's grandson Napoleon III in 1865 that would restore this house. When Josephine bought Malmaison in 1799, she paid 300,000 francs for the estate. Which came with 150 acres. It was an old run-down chateau. And she set out to do all the renovations to make it the modern building that we see today. And once she became the Empress of the French, she had the means to buy whatever she wanted. Many of the furniture pieces in this house were created by the very same cabinet makers that worked for Maria Antoinette. With an annual stipend of 5 million francs per year, Josephine could give Maria Antoinette a run for her money. Malmaison was the private residence of Josephine and Napoleon. But for two years it acted as the headquarters for the French Republic. This would be the room that international visitors would come to meet Napoleon and Josephine in. It's grand yet intimate. It's on a scale similar to our White House in Washington, D.C. And all doors lead to Josephine's exquisite gardens with her fabulous rose collection. And in Josephine's time, you might run into an exotic animal such as a zebra or a kangaroo. That would have been incredible for her guests to see. David, what do you love about the Empire Taste? I just love the simplicity. I find it to be very masculine. Mm-hmm, it is. I mean, at the time, I wonder if it was considered very, very modern. I don't know. I mean, it takes its roots from the classical Greek. You'll see a lot of Greek key and various classical motifs, maybe Medusa or Apollo. I just love the amphibian leaves. It's a classic. I don't know, I love it. But it's elegant to me in its simplicity. Made it. But it was already kind of in the works with Marie Antoinette was working on it before her untimely death. But I think Napoleon's campaigns really sealed the deal going to Egypt. I mean, I think David is right. It's just totally modern. Well, for that time. Such a departure from maybe the 16th century. Absolutely. Very linear. I love these chandeliers, these are... I just love this energy of the window with the two torches. We are stepping into the formal dining hall, which I just love the walls. I thought it was wonderful. Yes. With the mythological, it looks like it's four seasons, which I think it is. Yes, it is. And wonderful fire pots. But Rachel, look at this dining table. It's 1815. Modern. But I think when they dressed it with, you know, all the garnitures and table settings, it had to be a jewel. And this is just, the colors are so beautiful. Look at this, it's like a muted pink. I just love it. It is. Cupid's bows. Bows and arrows. Now we're in the council room at Malmaison. Again, very unusual. Empire furniture in red and black. Gorgeous portraits of Josephine. Another thing that's really wonderful about this room is it's all upholstered. So that you feel like you're on the inside of a tent. The most beautiful tent in the world, of course. Bonds. Candlesticks and beautiful empire chests mounted with beautiful mythological creatures. The library. This has got to be one of my favorite rooms. Oh, I just love the color. It's almost like a, what color green? I don't want to say mint, but it almost feels like a mint green in a way. It's not what you'd think of to put on a wall. Oh, I think it's going to put that on the wall, absolutely. And it's a classic 18th century, early 19th century color. But look at these. These are amazing portraits of Josephine and her daughter. I believe that's Josephine. That's Josephine. That is her daughter, Hortense, who is the mother of Napoleon III. And this is just a gorgeous room. Another beautiful portrait of Josephine. What's really wonderful about these portraits is these are most, the portraits that when you look in books about Napoleon and Josephine, these are the portraits that they take to reproduce it. This is it. How does it feel to be standing in front of them? It's really exciting. And what's nice is this is such an intimate place. This is very warm and livable. It's not like some cavernous, drafty palace, which we've been in a few, where you think, get me out of here, it's so cold. I mean, this was designed to, it's pretty warm in here right now. It is. But it's just a beautiful, beautiful space. And these are just beyond beautiful. So now we're in Napoleon's bedchamber. And even though they had a very exciting life for a certain period of time together, in those days, people slept separately. And if you notice, his bed is fairly short. Now, that being said, there is a thing called the Napoleon complex. It is not really true. For his time, he wasn't that short. He was average height. But this is the type of bed that, you know, I couldn't sleep in it because it wouldn't be quite long enough. But again, it's beautiful empire style with the bronze and arm-loom mounts. But what I love about this is the tenting in the room all around this drape, which is really gorgeous. I've never seen anything like that. To get away with it, you have to have the right fabric. Sometimes when people drape rooms like this, they overdo it. But this is just perfect. And look at the necessaire. So that would be where you do your private business behind that wall. Hold the drape closed. It's just amazing. I don't know whose set this is, but it is monogrammed with an E. And it looks like everything is original to itself. And by the way, this palace was used after the time of Napoleon and Josephine. Napoleon III, they occupied this too. But it's a small house, so you wouldn't bring your whole court here. It'd be a place that you could get away from all of that. There is one of the earliest portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte that I know of. And that is just at the beginning of his rise. So it's wonderful to be in the room with those pieces and not have 700 tourists with us. We're here alone. It's wonderful. You know, we have the school kids, and they're being as good as gold. They are being very good. Yes, they're being really good. So we're really lucky. Josephine's toilette, basically her beauty kit. So you have all the things for doing your fingernails, your perfumes, your scissors, powders. And I mean, it's an amazing mechanical tool that it all goes into. And it's very transportable. So it could just be picked up and moved somewhere else. Beautiful market site around the beveled mirror. And it looks like this flops down. And then there's more space for more cosmetics. Love it. And then look at the beautiful, beautiful oak floors and parquet. This was her special place, I'm sure. And then, of course, you have the Napoleonic eagle watching over her. It's just a lovely, lovely room. This could be done as a for a milliner's model or an artist's doll. It's just a super, super idea. And look how plain the fireplace is. Because, you know, in a way, the decoration is where you have your embellishment. And I'm pretty sure that that's the original fireplace in this building, because it doesn't really look like much has changed here. It doesn't feel like it's been totally restored. Do you feel that too? No, I do feel it. It's in the condition that it should be. So now we're in Josephine's ordinary bedchamber. So evidently, we were just in the fancy bedchamber. And this is the ordinary bedchamber. I think this has to do with this is a very small room. And this would be easy to keep warm. It doesn't have, it has high ceilings, but they're not that high. So you could keep this room fairly warm. And again, we have the very plain fireplace. But yet it has all of the decorations on the fireplace. A beautiful pier mirror. And then these two pieces are both sewing stamps. So these would be used for sewing. She wouldn't have two of them in the same room at the same time. So the museum has just put this here. But then there's her little cozy bedchamber. And you can see it's set up. It's set for just one. There's no room for two people there. But the beautiful faux painting around the frieze of the room is just exquisite. View of the garden. You know, there's her secretaire abattoir. And that's where she would write her letters. And some letters to Napoleon and her children. And a beautiful painting of Malmaison in the period. And then this would be her traveling desk that she would use traveling. How fabulous. She wrote on campaign. And then look out the window, everybody. And imagine that in the summer, how beautiful it would be. So now we're in still part of Josephine's boudoir. But this is basically part of the dressing room. So we just left basically a very large closet. And now this would be a place where her ladies would help get her dressed. They have outfitted this with beautiful draperies and wonderful delicate pieces of furniture. There's so many things in this chateau that I have never seen before. So I'm very excited about that. But I would imagine that this door, behind this door, is where her 1,000 dresses were kept. So she had an extensive wardrobe of clothing. This would be part of the getting ready area. You can see there's seating here. Look at that. It's very modern. It's built in. I love it. And I would imagine if she had a lady waiting that had to look after her, she could sleep there and she would be comfortable. But wonderful, wonderful pieces of leather center chair. Just super, super beautiful. David, what kind of mahogany is that called? Is that bird's eye maple? No, it's not bird's eye maple. I don't know. It's unusual wood. It could be a circadian wood. David thinks it could be circadian. We'll have to get our wood guide out to work. But this is just a very intimate room and a little tiny, tiny fireplace. But I would imagine you can keep this nice and toasty. Napoleon Bonaparte, the great emperor and general, said of his one true love, Josephine, who alone you can move and rule my heart. Their spirit is quite tangible at Malmaison. I hope you've enjoyed this tour of this amazing place.