Objects

Of all the existing images of the Empress Eugenie, the photographs of her in prayer are the most iconic. This photographic portrait taken by Gustave le Gray  in the summer of 1856 for the painter Thomas Couture, was widely disseminated after it was taken. This wasn’t the first time the Empress was captured in prayer; the […]

Napoleon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte (1856-1879), Prince Imperial, was the recipient of a number of orders and decorations during his life, although these distinctions are often overshadowed by the large and impressive collection belonging to his father, the Emperor Napoleon III. Napoleon III’s collection is the only complete set of decorations belonging to a […]

This war memorial is dedicated to those who died in the War of 1870 [the Franco-Prussian War]. It was erected and revealed to the public on 7 July 1907, at a site donated by the commune of Figeac. The memorial was financed by a subsidy from the Lot département as well as a fundraising campaign initiated by the Société […]

From one Empire to another After the fall of the Empire in 1815, Napoleonic emblems were banned. The Eagle and the Tricolour flag were no longer to be brandished by the army, to be replaced by the Fleur de lys and the white flag of the Bourbons. During the July Monarchy, the Tricolour was rehabilitated […]

In 1861, to many people’s astonishment, the young architect Charles Garnier (1825-1898) won the competition to design a new opera house in Paris. The project was launched by Napoleon III a short while after Orsini’s attack of 14 January 1858, when the latter had attempted to assassinate the Imperial Couple as they arrived for a […]

The Napoleonic regime was essentially autocratic and popular, and from the Consulate period onwards, plebiscites or referenda were organised so that civil society could give its opinion on matters of constitutional law, namely: – on the establishment of the Consulate in 1799 after the coup d’état of 18 Brumaire (plebiscite of 7 February 1800), – […]

There is one reality that hasn’t changed in over two hundred years: fashion comes and goes due to appearances (or lack of them) in fashion magazines. During the Empire, the one that was in the hands of all the women of the court was the Journal des dames et des modes (All the illustrations can […]

Weapons of honour In 1791 the National Constituent Assembly disposed of royal military honours and replaced them with their own Décoration Militaire. Then, on 21 September 1792, the Convention abolished the monarchy and with it the Décoration Militaire (officially abolished on 15 October 1792), which was in effect a direct descendent of the Ancien Régime. […]

The compass was brought to Europe by the Arabs during the Mediaeval period, it rapidly became an essential tool for soldiers and sailors alike, achieving almost a supernatural, almost magical status. In the 13th century, the scientist Pierre de Mauricourt studied the physics of magnets, becoming the first to establish a link between compasses and […]

This bust of the Pope who consecrated Napoleon I, made by Antonio Canova, is held at the Château de Versailles. The marble likeness echoes the Pope’s brief visit to Louis XIV’s château, on 3 January 1805 (see here an account of the Pope’s visit to Versailles). Pius VII had been invited to Paris by Napoleon to […]