Josephine de Beauharnais (door P.-P. Prud’hon)
“Once he had decided that marriage to Josephine de Beauharnais might well promote his career, Bonaparte for his part had no doubt that he should make her his wife. [They married on 9 March 1796] Having come to that decision, he fell in love with her. … Less romantically, and much later, he told comte Bertrand, “I really loved Josephine, but I had no respect for her. She had the prettiest little c**t in the world … Actually I married her only because I believed her to be rich. She said she was, but it wasn’t true.” (Ch. Hibbert, Napoleon. His wives and women. [London 2003], p. 47-48)