With the Peace of Pressburg in December 1805 and the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt shortly after, Vivant Denon and his aides Daru and Stendhal began to systematically appropriate art from regions of the HRE, Westphalia, and Prussia. With Berlin, Charlottenburg, and Sanssouci combed through, Denon went on to relieve the gallery of Cassel of 48 paintings. En route, the paintings were directed to Mainz, where the Empress Josephine saw them and convinced Napoleon to have them sent to Malmaison, as a gift to her. In the end, Denon selected over 299 paintings to take from the Cassel collection. Additionally, nearly 78 paintings were taken from the Duke of Brunswick, and Stendhall collected over 500 illuminated manuscripts and the famous art collection of the deceased Cardinal Mazarin.