Napoleon and science? Napoleon the intellectual? Napoleon with his boot pushing a spade? Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, while searching for the colour plates of the Australian flora painted by Pierre Joseph Redoute, found an unexplored side of Napoleonic France.
'Napoleon, the Empress & The Artist' shows the impact of the Australian flora on Napoleonic France from the hothouses at Malmaison to the flower beds of Napoleon's last garden on the island of St Helena. Napoleon's final conquest was the introduction of the Australian paper daisy on St Helena where it blooms to this day. The story of the Australian flora is woven into the history of France and shows links with Australia from the time of the French Revolution to Napoleon's death in 1821. The highlight of the 220 illustrations in the book are reproductions of the largest number of Redoute's watercolours of the Australian flora ever published in one volume. Many of these pictures have never been equalled.
