2-489-506 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

Portrait of French balloonist Sophie Blanchard during her flight in Milan, Italy, 1811. Sophie Blanchard (1778-1819) was the wife of ballooning pioneer Jean-Pierre Blanchard. She made over 60 ascents, surviving losing consciousness, freezing temperatures and almost drowning after landing in a marsh. She became a favourite of Napoleon, who appointed her 'Aeronaut of the Official Festivals' in 1804. The flight in Milan she is pictued making was to commemorate the Emperor's 42nd birthday. Blanchard was killed in 1819 during an exhibition in the Tivoli Gardens in Paris when fireworks she set off ignited the gas in her balloon, causing it to crash. From a private collection.