Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria

AUSTRALIA AT MALMAISON
At Malmaison, Josephine was intent upon indulging her passion for
the natural sciences by transforming its grounds into a living floral
and faunal experiment. In June 1803 and March 1804, the two
ships from Nicolas Baudin’s expedition to south-eastern Australia
returned to France, providing Josephine with an overwhelmingly
rich new source of animals and plants. She was to cultivate more
than 200 species of Australian plants at Malmaison, while kangaroos,
emus and black swans roamed free on the estate.
Josephine’s wish was to have the greatest botanists describe
the plants grown in her hothouses, and these plants were to be
reproduced by the celebrated flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté.
Étienne Pierre Ventenat was the first botanist to take on this duty,
until his death, in 1808. Aimé Bonpland succeeded him, holding
concurrently the positions of botanist and conservator until 1814.
These men provided the texts and images for the great botanical
books funded by the Empress, displayed here, which richly
reproduced Australian plants. In 1805 Félix Delahaye became
head gardener at Malmaison. Having travelled to Australia on
d’Entrecasteaux’s 1791 expedition, Delahaye was, in effect,
the only gardener in Europe to have observed Australian plants
growing in their native habitat.
The significant number of Australian plants and animals at
Malmaison exemplified the deep fascination that both Josephine
and Napoleon held for this little-known southern land. It was at
Malmaison that many Australian plants were introduced to France
for the first time, including the wattle and eucalypt that proliferate
today in southern France.
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