I love flowers and noticed one of Meowmie's pictures on the wall in the computer room. Here is what I researched.
Shirley

Pierre-Joseph Redoute was born on July 10, 1759. He was born in the Belgian village of Saint Hubert in the Belgian Ardennes. His father Charles - Joseph Redoute was also a painter and decorator and was employed to decorate the Abbey of Saint Hubert. Charles and his wife had five children; two girls: Jeanne-Marie and Anne-Marie and three boys. Antoine-Ferdinand was to become a decorator and both Henri-Joseph and Pierre-Joseph were to become accomplished painters.

At the age of 13 Pierre-Joseph set off from Saint Hubert heading towards Paris where his brother Antoine was working as a decorator. In Paris Pierre-Joseph met Monsieur Demarteau, an eminent engraver. He became a student of his as a flower painter while he continued to work with his brother as a decorator. His reputation grew and he was visited by Charles Louis L'Heritier de Brutelle to illustrate his botanical publications.Monsieur L'Heritier was a wealthy magistrate with a passion for Botany. It was he who introduced Pierre-Joseph to many famous and influential people of the period. He even paid for Pierre-Joseph to travel to England to meet Sir Joseph Banks. L'Heritier was also an innovative Botanist who wanted all his illustrations to be drawn from life. Prior to this artists used pressings from the various Herbariums to paint from.

Pierre-Joseph married Marie-Marthe Gobert on February 27, 1786, and they had two children Adelaide and Josephine. The great Swedish naturalist, Linnaeus died in 1778. Pierre-Joseph was very honored to attend the first meeting of the Linnean Society and be listed as a founding member. During this time he was also appointed Painter to Her Majesty the Queen Marie-Antoinette of France. When King Louis XVI, Queen Marie-Antoinette and little Dauphin were ordered to take up residence in the Palace of the Tuileries. Pierre-Joseph was ordered to come to the temple to paint a cactus belonging to the Queen. The cactus only flowered at midnight once a year. The 4 were kept in the closely guarded room and Pierre-Joseph painted the cactus and left. After the fall of King Louis XVI an open competition was held with 6,000 francs to be paid to the winning artists to add paintings to the 'Vellums' at the National Museum of Natural History. Pierre-Joseph was appointed botany painter and his brother Henri-Joseph was appointed painter of zoology. On March 16, 1795, Pierre-Joseph's friend Rossignal the head gardener at Meudon demonstrated to what lengths botanists went to look after their collections.

During the Great Fire of Meudon (where much of the buildings were destroyed by fire) Rossignal commandeered a squad of Austrian prisoners of war and marched them off to save his orange trees, rare plants and used precious water to save the Orangery and conservatory. Pierre-Joseph was fortunate to have won the open competition as this was a time when a family sized loaf of bread cost 60 francs. It was also when a young General Buonaparte was given command of the army fighting the Austrians in Italy. He also married Marie-Joseph-Rose de la Pagerie de Beaharnais and droped the 'u' from his name. In December that year General Napoleon Bonarparte triumphantly returned to Paris and he and his wife were the toast of the town. It was during this time that he is to have said that "I win battles, Josephine wins hearts." On May 1798, a fleet of ships set out for Malta and Egypt. On these ships was the Artistic and Scientific Commission with Henri-Joseph Redoute on board. Pierre-Joseph had then published 'The story of Succulent Plants' and was working on a series on the Lily family.

While Napoleon was heading towards Egypt Josephine bought (against her husbands wishes) a run down property sixteen kilometers from Paris called 'Malmaison.' General Bonaparte wanted a country property 'near Paris' and sought his brother Joseph's help in purchasing a property. However, Josephine was enchanted by Malmaison and bought the Chateau, land and furniture for 250,000 francs without actually having the money to pay for it. When Josephine bought the house, it was in a bad state of repair. Two architects, Fontaine and Percier worked on restoring Malmaison. The property included a small park, some horticultural land and vineyards. Josephine had heard of the now fashionable painter Redoute but she, like everyone else was surprised when she met him as he didn't look like he was a painter of delicate works. He was a thickset man with a homely face and a thick Belgian accent. He also had enormous misshapen hands and stumpy fingers.

While Josephine was concentrating on the restoration of Malmaison the General was proclaimed First Consul of France. While the heroic armies of France were fighting magnificently in foreign lands, French citizens were regular victims of highwaymen and robbers. Monsieur L'Heritier was a victim of these robbers. On August 16, 1800, he was robbed and hacked to death a few steps from his front door. On Napoleon's return he restored law and order as well as religious freedom in France. Travelers were now safe on French roads and people started to flock to Paris. Henri-Joseph Redoute also returned to France but had acquired that "Egyptian Eye Disease."

In 1804 Pierre-Joseph was appointed 'Painter to Josephine, Empress of the French.' He was paid 18,000 francs a year (a significant sum)! During this time he purchased a property at Fleury-Meudon. The Empress visited him at Fleury-Meudon and presented him with a chestnut and a cedar tree. The cedar tree can still be seen today. Pierre-Joseph commenced work on a two volume book 'Jardin de la Malmaison' on the plants found on the property. Ventenat wrote and Pierre-Joseph illustrated the works. The Empress's taste for botany was the basis of a serious study. She soon knew the names of all the plants in her greenhouses, the family they were classified as belonging to by naturalists, their origins and their properties. She also spent handsomely to aquire her plants. For example she paid 3000 francs for one bulb. During this time Pierre-Joseph continued to publish regular installments of 'Les Liliacees' and give the ladies of the court painting lessons. These lessons had become the height of fashion.

On December 15, 1809, the Emperor officially divorced his wife Josephine of fifteen years. Despite this Josephine retained her rank and title and appointed every member of her household. Napoleon presented Josephine with the estate and chateau of Navarre in Normandy but she insisted on staying at Malmaison. Three months after the divorce, it was announced that the Emperor was to marry the Archduchess Marie-Louise, the nineteen year old daughter of his Imperial Majesty, The Emperor of Austria. She promptly presented him with the son and heir he had waited for.

During this time Pierre-Joseph had commenced work on his most famous work 'Les Roses' and at the same time gave the Empress Marie-Louise lessons in flower painting. On Napoleon's abdication many houses were taken over by the occupying troops. But none of the occupying forces bore the Empress Josephine a grudge. To them she was the charming, elegant woman whom Napoleon had heartlessly divorced in order to marry the youthful Marie-Louise who could be counted on to give him a son and heir. So they left the ex-Empress undisturbed in Malmaison, no troops were ever billeted, and they continued to allow her the princely yearly sum settled on her by Napoleon. The Czar Alexander of Russia would often visit and be seen strolling the gardens. At his time Pierre-Joseph continued to paint any roses he could see in bloom. The ex-Empress was very pleased with the news of his latest work and told him to come to Malmaison whenever he chose to and said, "Monsieur, my roses are very dear to me now." Josephine died at Malmaison on May 27, 1814. Josephine's great love was the Rose. She set out to grow every variety in existence. Her gardeners also created new ones. The rose garden at Malmaison had in excess of 250 varieties. Only 20 years prior Linnaeus could only identify 20 Rose varieties. Redoute's greatest work 'Les Roses' was published in 1817.

1. What is the number of artists/painters in the Redout family counting Pierre-Joseph?

2. Who dropped the U from his name?

3. What empress did Redoute get appointed to?

4. What was the year was his appointment?

5. What was the name of Empress Josephine's estate?

6. What is Redoute's greatest work titled?