The Demidoff Gallery; Villa San Martino; Elba Island; Tuscany; Italy. (Ile d'Elbe)2018Today the Villa San Martino; once one of the two official residences of Napoleon during his 10-month exile from May 4; 1814 to February 26; 1815; is a National Museum.After the escape from Elba; Villa San Martino passed to the heirs of the emperor and in 1856; became the property of Russian nobleman; Anatolij Demidoff; Bonaparte's heir by marriage; an art collector and admirer of Napoleon's works. Prince Demidoff reshaped the villa into its current design; and planned to build close to the Villa San Martino a museum dedicated to the Napoleonic memorabilia he collected. With this objective; he commissioned the Florentine architect Niccolo Matas to construct the imposing Neoclassical Gallery that still bears his name. The work started in 1851 and the museum opened in 1859. On the death of Anatolij in 1870; the collection was dispersed and the villa passed into private ownership until it was acquired by the State in 1930.Photo: Eric Vandeville