Joséphine Rancé 1795

"[...] Your mood was a sacred law for me. To be able to see you was my greatest happiness [...] I worshipped everything about you; had you been more naive and younger, I would have loved you less...". Which woman wouldn't want to hear such words? Surprisingly, these lines do not come from the pen of a lovesick poet, but from one of the greatest strategists and military leaders of all time: Napoléon Bonaparte. They are dedicated to his first wife, the "incomparable Joséphine" (1763 - 1814). However, connoisseurs know that Napoléon and Joséphine were anything but the perfect love couple... Simply put, this marriage was an arrangement: Joséphine had social contacts at the time of their marriage and knew how to win people over with her charming nature, while Napoléon offered the six years older widow and her two children security. Although the marriage experienced many crises (In short: She had cheated on him at the beginning of their marriage, he took revenge by regularly cheating on her with extramarital affairs, which she in turn compensated for by buying luxury fashion, driving him up and down the wall. Ultimately, the marriage failed because Joséphine could no longer bear a son.) Napoléon had his Joséphine crowned empress in Paris on December 4, 1804, and commissioned this perfume for his wife on that occasion at Rancé.

Scent:
The fragrance opens with a whole bouquet of flowers including roses, jasmine, hyacinth, lilac, bergamot, and geranium. The lilac especially gives my "Josephine" a cool and aloof note. Even the peony cannot make her any happier or more playful, but rather leaves me with a melancholic impression. I find her interesting, I try to approach "Joséphine" cautiously, yet she remains cool and reserved towards me. The blackcurrants in the heart notes add a slightly tart scent alongside the bitter notes, which is only minimally perceptible. The sweet notes take a back seat at the beginning, and I hardly notice them at all. I perceive the scent at the outset as intense, floral, zesty, herbal, and slightly bitter. It is not an artificially synthetic fragrance, but on the contrary, one of the most natural perfumes I have ever smelled! "Josephine" merges effortlessly with my skin.
In the heart notes, the violet leaf is distinctly noticeable. The violet had a special significance for Joséphine, as her wedding dress was embroidered with violets, and Napoléon sent her a fresh bouquet of violets every wedding anniversary. The violet reinforces the first impression and fits well with the melancholic-bitter notes. Over time, "Josephine" becomes gentler, softer, and more open. Vanilla, amber, sandalwood, and ebony in the base make it creamy, sweet, and powdery. The fragrance is, however, never a gourmand. "Josephine" is a spring scent... I think of how one strolls through a lavishly designed palace garden on a cool, slightly foggy spring morning. The plants are still green, and their flowers are closed. Slowly, the first rays of sunshine break through, the air becomes milder, and the flowers begin to prepare to bloom in all their splendor...

I found the story of Napoléon and Joséphine incredibly fascinating as a child and teenager, so much so that I not only devoured countless biographies about the two, but also had to have this perfume... "Joséphine" thus became my very first personal perfume and my entry into the passion for collecting.
Despite numerous crises in the marriage, the fate of Napoléon and Joséphine remained mysteriously intertwined. After the divorce from Joséphine, Napoléon's star also began to slowly but inexorably decline. Joséphine was not only a wife during the marriage but also a "diplomat" who knew how to mediate where Napoléon's patience had long run out. "Without Josephine, there is no complete Napoleon," summed up Joséphine biographer Francoise Wagener aptly.