Objects

After the fall of the Empire in 1870, the Emperor Napoleon III, in exile in Chislehurst (UK) was in poor health. The sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-1875) was summoned in 1872 to create the first sketches for an imperial bust. In the end, Carpeaux arrived after…

Manuscript bearing the inscription in French: “Marche funèbre jouée à Sainte-Hélène par la musique de la milice de l’ile [illegible] la translation du  corps de l’Empereur de la Vallée du tombeau à la ville”. This hand-written score of an arrangement of O come, all ye faithful,…

This luxurious inkstand (GMLC-624-000) (which before 2021 had never been publicly exhibited) was made for the Grand Cabinet (formal office) of Napoleon I at the Palais des Tuileries by Martin Guillaume Biennais (1764-1843) and delivered there in December 1813. At the same time, the Emperor’s goldsmith supplied an identical copy for the palace of Fontainebleau(exhibited at the exhibition […]

In a note in A St Helena Who’s Who (1919), Arnold Chaplin, a renowned specialist on the St Helena episode, recorded that a musical lieutenant of the 66th Regiment, Charles McCarthy, had composed a “dirge” for the Emperor’s funeral. Chaplin also reported that a score…

The “grand cabinet” of his “grand appartement de représentation” [great reception apartment] was, in Napoleon’s eyes, the most important room in the Tuileries Palace. It was here that he held the Council of Ministers and received the oaths of the dignitaries and great officers of…

The “Maison de l’Empereur” or “Emperor’s Household” was created after the proclamation of the Empire and was largely inspired by the “Maison du Roi” or King’s Household during the Ancien Régime. This institution went back a long time: sovereigns had always had an officer at…

The figure of Napoleon is inseparable from his famous bicorn, accompanied by his no less famous grey “redingote” (a large frockcoat commonly known as his “greatcoat”). They made him more easily recognisable in the midst of his his caparisoned staff, decked with trimmings and golden braids.…

When Bonaparte became First Consul, head of state, he wanted a ceremonial weapon for grand state occasions, based on the example of the very lavish sword made in 1784 for Louis XVI. He specified that it should “be in keeping with the customs related to…

This tiara was made around 1811 by François-Regnault Nitot, son of Marie-Etienne Nitot, jeweller of the Empire and founder of the house that would become Chaumet. Not only is it a masterpiece of craftsmanship, it also carries a symbolic dimension dear to Josephine and Napoleon.

Martin Pigneret: mantle clock, circa 1815. This clock brought back from St Helena by General Bertrand still marks the hour of the Emperor’s death.