Rehearsal of 'The Flute Player' and 'The Wife of Diomedes' at the Home of Prince Napoléon

On 14 February 1860 Prince Napoleon, a cousin of the emperor Napoleon III, opened his new Pompeian house on the avenue Montaigne with a private performance for the emperor and empress. The poet Théophile Gautier wrote a verse prologue for the night, The Wife of Diomedes, and actors of the Comédie-Française gave the playwright Émile Augier's comedy The Flute Player in full. Boulanger painted them at rehearsal. The company in antique dress includes Samson, Got, Geffroy, Madeleine Brohan and Mademoiselle Favart, with the two writers wrapped in togas. The white statue among the columns is Napoleon I, the host's uncle. Shown at the Salon of 1861, the canvas later belonged to the host's sister, Princess Mathilde, who left it to the Louvre in 1904. The house had a shorter life. It was sold in 1866 and pulled down in 1891.