17 Facts About Joseph Fesch

1.

Joseph Fesch, Prince of France was a French priest and diplomat, who was the maternal half-uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte.

2.

Joseph Fesch was one of the most famous art collectors of his period, remembered for having established the Musee Fesch in Ajaccio, which remains one of the most important Napoleonic collections of art.

3.

Joseph Fesch rose to great prominence in France following Napoleon's coup d'etat of 1799.

4.

Joseph Fesch was a member of the Imperial House, and was included in the order of succession to the French imperial throne in accordance with the French constitution of 1804.

5.

Joseph Fesch was Napoleon's most important diplomat in regard to Pope Pius VII, but Napoleon's relationship with his uncle deteriorated as his relationship with the Pope soured.

6.

Joseph Fesch relocated to Rome with his half-sister Laetitia, and took up residence at the Palazzo Falconieri, dedicating himself to art and to beneficence.

7.

Joseph Fesch's father was Franz Faesch, a Swiss officer in the service of the Republic of Genoa, whose family belonged to the Basel patriciate and had been ennobled in the Holy Roman Empire in 1562.

8.

Joseph Fesch's mother had previously been married to Captain Giovanni Geronimo Ramolino, and he had an elder half-sister, Letizia Ramolino, later the mother of Napoleon.

9.

Joseph Fesch was ordained as a priest in 1785, and 24 years old, he became himself the archdeacon of Ajaccio.

10.

Joseph Fesch's reward came in being made Archbishop of Lyon in August 1802.

11.

Joseph Fesch received the grand cordon of the Legion d'Honneur, became grand-almoner of the empire and had a seat in the French senate.

12.

Joseph Fesch did however consent to take part in an ecclesiastical commission formed by the emperor from among the dignitaries of the Gallican Church, but in 1810 the commission was dissolved.

13.

Joseph Fesch ventured to write to the aged pontiff a letter which came into the hands of the emperor.

14.

The Joseph Fesch collection included almost 16,000 paintings.

15.

The core was Italian works of the Renaissance to the 18th century, but Joseph Fesch had a number of Dutch Golden Age paintings and contemporary French works, as well as a number of classical sculptures.

16.

Joseph Fesch was a fairly early collector of Quattrocento paintings, or "Italian Primitives".

17.

The Musee Joseph Fesch, Ajaccio contains much of Joseph Fesch's collection, including works by Botticelli, Giovanni Bellini, Titian and others.