After the fall of her uncle Emperor Napoleon in 1815, her father moved to America and lived in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Charlotte and her sister, however, stayed with their mother in Europe. They lived in
Frankfurt and
Brussels in 1815-1821, and then in
Florence. She studied engraving and lithography in Paris with the artist
Louis Léopold Robert, who is reputed to have fallen in love with her. Charlotte, known as the Countess de Survilliers, lived with her father at his
Point Breeze estate in
Bordentown, New Jersey, from December 1821 to August 1824. Charlotte
married her first cousin Napoléon Louis, the second son of
Louis Bonaparte and
Hortense de Beauharnais, on 23 July 1826. She became a widow in 1831.
Artist While in America, she sketched numerous landscapes including
Passaic Falls, her father's estate at Point Breeze, the town of
Lebanon, and others, some of which were engraved for the book "Picturesque American Scenes" by Joubert. Extant landscape drawings by her include Passaic Falls, a view near
Tuckerton, and
Schooley's Mountain. She also painted portraits (Cora Monges, 1822; Emilie Lacoste, 1823) and exhibited her work at the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Death Charlotte reportedly died in childbirth. The father of her child was reportedly Count Potocki. Her tomb is in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, and it says (paraphrased): Born Oct. 31, 1802, died 1839. ==Legacy==