MARIE LOUISE OF AUSTRIA AND CARDINAL JOSEPH FESCH

MARIE LOUISE OF AUSTRIA (1791-1847) Austrian archduchess who reigned as Duchess of Parma from 1814 until her death. She was Napoleon's second wife and, as such, Empress of the French from 1810 to 1814. Fine association partly-printed D.S. 'Marie Louise' as Empress of France, 1p. 15 x 11 in., Tuileries, Dec. 15, 1811, the naming of a 'Madame Boscheron' as a 'Dame de la Societe de la Charite maternelle'. Signed with her diminutive signature (which is a bit light) beneath the date. At bottom, the document is signed by the charity's secretary-general, JOSEPH CARDINAL FESCH (1763-1839), French cardinal and diplomat, Prince of France and a member of the Imperial House of the First French Empire, the half-uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte who had married Marie Louise and Bonaparte the year before. Damp stained and wrinkled at center, Fesch's title slightly affected, still good to very good.