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This week's letter
is very international and polyglot. Our Painting of the Month comes from Parma and is an early image of the empress Marie Louise and her astounding jewellery - for another empress and her philanthropic refusal of some equally expensive but Second Empire 'ice', see the article (in French) from Napoleonica la Revue recommended in the letter on the French side of the site. The article we're highlighting here is one on early 'Gothic' tendencies in France as revealed by the Paris catacombs (still visitable today). Following that there's a book to download by one of the most prolific and influential 'liberal' writers and indeed actors on the St Helena episode, Barry Edward O'Meara. And to help you to get grips with it, there is a short piece by our librarian Chantal Prévot describing the context for the book and its contents before you get to grips with the Irish doctor's first defence of the emperor. And if you're in Paris for the holidays, why not visit the Musée de l'Armée and take advantage of the new guide technology? We've got details on this here below. To finish this week's bulletin, there's news on napoleonica elsewhere in Europe, namely a magazine in The Netherlands and an excellent exhibition and website in Catalonia/Spain. '200 years ago' brings with it full details of the Trinity-Sunday baptism of the Roi de Rome and '150 years ago' gives news of the death of the Italian statesman and architect of Italian unity, Camillo Benso di Cavour. Enjoy...
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PAINTING OF THE MONTH
Portrait of Marie Louise, Empress of France, by Robert Lefèvre (Bayeux 1755-Paris 1830)
This contemporary portrait of the empress Marie Louise is a perfect example of an official portrait. The canvas is still in its original frame, itself decorated with the usual bees. And Lefebvre's painting clearly received imperial approval since two further slightly varied copies were made, one of which was bought by Chaumet in 1975 and the other (much bigger (285 x 210 cm) and later version (1814)) currently held at the Château de Versailles.
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NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
Issue n° 10 out now
The article highlighted this week from the Fondation Napoléon's e-periodical, Napoleonica. La Revue, is that by Gilles Thomas and Xavier Ramette (in French) on the Paris catacombs, ‘La création et l'aménagement des catacombes. Premier musée souterrain de France au début de l'Empire, sous l'égide de L.É.F. Héricart Ferrand, entre 1809 et 1815'. During the reign of Louis XVI, for reasons of health and safety, bodies from practically every cemetery in the Paris were reburied in mines in the Paris suburbs. It was Charles Axel Guillaumont (first head of the Inspection de Carrières) who oversaw the transfer of bones of the hundreds of thousands of individuals into the underground galleries. His successor, Héricart de Thury, then decided to arrange the Catacombs with a view to opening them up to the public. The fads of the period – Egyptomania (after the Napoleonic Campaign there) and the beginning of Romanticism – determined how Héricart de Thury was to lay out the bones, set the extent of, and the decoration for, the Catacombs as we see them today. The article is available - without charge - to download or read online via Cairn.info.
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NAPOLEON.ORG
Digital Library: O'Meara, Barry. An exposition of some of the transactions, that have taken place at St Helena, 1819 This famous work by Barry O'Meara, published to clear his name (see here Chantal Prévot's note on the book), was a riposte to Theodore Hook's Facts Illustrative of the Treatment of Napoleon (1819), a book probably commissioned by Hudson Lowe, itself a reply to the Letters from the Cape, a work dictated by Napoleon himself (see Thierry Lentz and Peter Hicks St Helena Miscellany), though attributed to Las Cases, complaining of his treatment on St Helena. Enjoy this perfect introduction into the St Helena labyrinth…
NAPOLEONIC NEWS
Musée de l'Armée gets new multimedia guide in form of iPod Touch
Following the recent renovation works carried out at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris, visitors can now stroll through every wing in the museum, accompanied by a new multimedia guide. Powered by iPod Touch technology, the new guide has replaced the traditional audio guide that had been available in the museum since 2005, and comes in eight languages (French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Japanese). As well as the standard guide, the guide also features special thematic and educational tours (including "Napoleon's Tomb", Charles de Gaulle and "From Saint-Louis to Louis XIII") through the museum, which are currently available in English and French. Further tours will be added through the summer, offering visitors new ways to experience the museum, its collections, and its surroundings.
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NAPOLEONIC WORLD ROUNDUP
Napoleon in Holland 1811-2011
The publishers, Foundation Theme Magazines, have decided to publish a six-issue Napoleonic magazine in Dutch related to Napoleon's stay in the Netherlands in October 1811. During this short period Napoleon visited Holland, travelling from Zeeland to Texel, from the western coast to the border of Germany in the east. He spent two weeks in Amsterdam and stayed with Marie Louise in the Royal Palace on the Dam. The magazine will be published every two months and each issue is to take a city (Amsterdam) or region of Holland as its prime focus. In fact, the magazine is a combination of a historical and a travel magazine, to be used as a guide to follow in the footsteps of Napoleon. For further details (in Dutch) click here (external link).
Napoleonic hommage in Catalonia
Two web addresses here will take you an excellent and modern way of telling the history of the recent past. First there is the exhibition at the Centre for maritime studies in Tarragona (Catalonia/Spain) which commemorates the bloody siege of the city and port of Tarragona by Suchet's troops from May to June 1811, a conflict so devastating that it took about fifteen years to rebuild the shattered site. Here we bring you not only a file on the exhibition but also a virtual visit (external link). In tandem with this exhibition there is the excellent web-based project “Tarragona under siege - 1811”, click here (In Catalan, external link).
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200 YEARS AGO
The Celebration of the Baptism of the Roi de Rome
Originally intended for 2 June, the Roi de Rome's baptism took place on 9 June (Trinity Sunday). The Moniteur of Sunday 9 June reported on some of the non-catholic religious celebrations which were to take place that day. The Evangelical Lutheran temple in rue des Billettes in Paris would celebrate the baptism of the Roi de Rome by the singing of a Te Deum and public prayers. The Israelite Consistory of the Paris circumscription had decreed that prayers would be sung in the temple in rue Sainte-Avoie, Paris. The Monday 10 June issue of the Moniteur reported on the celebrations of the day before. For a full description of the festivities, click here.
150 YEARS AGO
Death of Count Cavour, 6 June, 1861
The Moniteur Universel for Friday 7 June, 1861, reported on the death in Turin the previous day of the Piedmontese politician and architect of Italian unification, the Camillo Benso, Conte di Cavour (1810-1861), president of the council of ministers, minister of foreign affairs and navy minister. The French official organ noted the "huge void" now felt in Italian politics as a result of the death of this staunch supporter of the "monarchical principle". Telegrams from Turin informed the French paper that "a numberless crowd had stood before his mansion the day before and night of his death - emotional scenes were witnessed when the cortège bringing the count the last rights of the Church passed by." He died (according the Moniteur of 9 June, quoting the Gazzetta ufficiale del Regno d'Italia) "the serene death of a just man, expressing the most lively confidence in the destiny of Italy". His last words were said to be “L'Italia è fatta, tutto è salvo“ - "Italy has been created - all is saved".
The emotional and "almost royal" funeral (Moniteur, 9 June) took place on 7 June in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Turin. The count's body was laid to rest in the vault of the chapel at the family residence in Santena (near Turin).
For a short film on the life and importance of Cavour (in Italian), click here (external link)
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 587, 3 - 9 JUNE, 2011
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© This Napoleon.org weekly bulletin is published by the Fondation Napoléon. Reproduction or all or part of this bulletin is forbidden, without prior agreement of the Fondation Napoléon.
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OPERATION ST HELENA
The Fondation Napoléon and the Souvenir Napoléonien, in association with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have announced an international fund-raising campaign to restore and save Napoleon I's residence on the island of St Helena. All the details regarding the campaign as well as donation forms and advice for donating from outside France, can be found on napoleon.org.
FONDATION NAPOLEON ON THE WEB
Each week we offer you a "mystery" link to somewhere on napoleon.org. Click on the link to discover a part of the website you might not have visited before...
MAGAZINE
Seen on the web
Photos of the re-enactment of Napoleon's coronation in Boulogne sur Mer, 28 May, 2011, Northern France (external link).
See also the local French tv report (external link)
EVENTS
On now and coming up
A selection of events taking place now or in the coming weeks, taken from our What's on listings.
Comemorations
- Ceremony commemorating the 150th anniversary of the death of Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour, Santena, Italy, [06/06/2011 - 06/06/2011]
Exhibitions
- Tarragona during the war with France, 1808-1814, Tarragona (Catalonia/Spain), [11/04/2011 - 03/07/2011]
Festivals
- Gathering of the Gruppo alpini di Rivoli Veronese, Rivoli Veronese, Italy [01/06/2011 - 02/06/2011]
Full details
NAPOLEON.ORG
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