Madame Blanchard was the most famous and most romantic woman aeronaut of history. She was the wife of the equally famous Jean-Pierre who crossed the Channel with Dr. Jeffries in 1785. Madame Madeleine-Sophie Blanchard made her first balloon ascent in 1804 and soon became a popular “show woman”. She was a plain but intrepid little person, with a neurotic fear of noise and of riding in carriages, who delighted to make night ascents for her own pleasure. It was at night, on 6th July 1819, that she went up from the Tivoli Gardens at Paris, to give an aerial firework display, a few minutes later the balloon caught fire and as it careered down out of control, it hit the roof of a house in the Rue de Provence and precipitated poor Madame Blanchard into the street, where she died. This engraving shows one of her many successful ascents, on 24th June 1810, on the occasion of the “Jour de la Fete” given by the Imperial Guard to Napoleon in honour of his marriage to Marie Louise of Austria. The scene is set on the Champ-de-Mars with the Ecole Militaire on the left, where the royal couple can be seen on a balcony. The balloon is a hydrogen-filled Charliere decorated with Imperial eagles, floral swags and a female figure, perhaps symbolising abundance. Floating above and anchored to the crown is a small, star-shaped balloon, added for decorative good measure. If the balloon is accurately portrayed it is a rare type of Charliere without a net – which hides the decoration of the envelope – the delicate little car made in the form of a shell being fixed directly on the neck of the balloon. Madame Blanchard waves the customary flag, in this case a tricolour and a coloured streamer falls gracefully from the basket as the ground crew prepares to let go the ropes.