The women Bonapartes: the mother and three sisters of Napoléon I . s conferred uponthem and received merely nominal salaries, whilethe servants appear to have been very badlypaid. Thus, some of the lackeys only receivedbetween 300 or 400 francs a year, out of whichthey found their own food. A palace, however, was needed to house in asuitable manner their most Serene and ImperialHighnesses and their entourage, and this pre-sented some little difficulty. There were a num-ber of palaces in Lucca, several of them veryimposing residences indeed, such as the PalazzoCenami, a splendid example of Rena
The women Bonapartes: the mother and three sisters of Napoléon I . s conferred uponthem and received merely nominal salaries, whilethe servants appear to have been very badlypaid. Thus, some of the lackeys only receivedbetween 300 or 400 francs a year, out of whichthey found their own food. A palace, however, was needed to house in asuitable manner their most Serene and ImperialHighnesses and their entourage, and this pre-sented some little difficulty. There were a num-ber of palaces in Lucca, several of them veryimposing residences indeed, such as the PalazzoCenami, a splendid example of Renaissancearchitecture, and the Palazzo Mansi, famous forits tapestries and gallery of Flemish either their owners declined to part withthem, or they were too small for Elisas require-ments. Temporarily, the Court was lodged atthe Palazzo Bovisi, the owner of which, theMarchese Bovisi, had been accustomed to driveabout in a magnificent carriage preceded by out-riders and running footmen ; but, having latelynearly ruined himself by his extravagance, pre-. n THE WOMEN BONAPARTES 85 ferred to surrender the home of his fathers andto retire to his estates than appear before hisnew sovereign in an equipage unworthy of hisdignity. But a princess could not be expectedto remain permanently in what had been theresidence of a mere marquis—the idea was pre-posterous ! And so Elisa summoned the archi-tect Bienaime from Paris, and soon there arosea splendid palace, with a marble staircase and avast vaulted gallery of white marble and whitestucco, in the centre of which was a beautifulcupola decorated with friezes and consoles instucco, and which was enriched by masterpiecesof modern sculpture, notably, by several examplesof Canovas work, a magnificent Throne-Roomfor solemn audiences, a Council-Chamber for thedeliberations of the Ministers, and spacious recep-tion-rooms, in which might be seen chimney-pieces of marble or porphyry, doors of massivecedar, silk curtains with reliefs
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