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IN THIS WEEK'S LETTER...
... we have some exciting news for our Australian readers. Over the past couple of months, the Fondation Napoléon has been deep in negotiations with the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, and we can now announce that between June and October 2012, a large number of items from the Fondation Napoléon's collection will be figuring as part of the gallery's Winter Masterpiece show, "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire". Continuing the art theme down through the letter, we have a new objet d'art of the month: a bust portrait sculpture of Princess Mathilde produced by Carpeaux. We also bring you news of an interesting art discovery involving a painting by Goya. This letter also features a new fashion file, which throws open the wardrobe doors and takes a peek at the First Empire taste for shawls, particular popular with Josephine, French empress and first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. Elsewhere, we bring you a couple of websites featuring 1812 military songs, as well as our usual 200 and 150 years ago.
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FONDATION NAPOLEON NEWS
"Napoleon: Revolution to Empire" - a Fondation Napoléon-National Gallery of Victoria partnership
From June to September 2012, the treasures of the Fondation Napoléon's collection are to fly around the world to Australia. As part of a partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, our collection is to form the centrepiece of the gallery's Winter Masterpiece show, "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire", a panoramic exhibition examining French art, culture and life from the 1770s to the 1820s. Its story runs from the first French voyages of discovery to Australia during the reign of Louis XV to the end of Napoleon's transforming leadership as first Emperor of France. In addition to pieces from our collection there are to be loans of incomparable interest drawn from Europe's most important Revolutionary and Napoleonic collections, including the Musée de l'Armée, the Napoleonmuseum Thurgau in Switzerland, and the Museo Napoleonico in Rome. This promises to be a landmark exhibition on Napoleon in Australia for many years to come.
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OBJET D'ART OF THE MONTH
Princess Mathilde, by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
After enjoying success in 1856, a year which saw him presented with the Prix de Rome, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux settled in the eternal city to continue his education. The sculptor followed up this success with a sculpture of a Neapolitan fisherboy - particularly popular with the Parisian public - and his Ugolino group, and he returned to Paris in February 1862. Initiated into Mathilde's salon, Carpeaux produced this marble bust (exhibited at the 1863 Salon) which would cement his reputation.
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NAPOLEON.ORG
Fashion: the First Empire shawl
During the Directory, Consulate and imperial periods, the shawl was to prove the accessory every self-respecting woman about town needed in her wardrobe. Rare and highly sought-after, the shawl was often made of the finest, most expensive materials, in particular cashmere. Josephine, the future empress of France and renowned fashionista, owned numerous examples and was one of the first ladies to own one of the exotic shawls brought back from Egypt by Bonaparte. She soon built up a huge collection of shawls, many of which were worth as much as fifteen to twenty thousand francs each.
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SEEN ON THE WEB
Music and the War of 1812
The important role played by music in documenting life on campaign, recording key moments in history, and maintaining morale within the ranks continues to fascinate us here at the Fondation Napoléon. This week, we have two websites with music and songs from the War of 1812. The Early America website offers audio files of two songs, "The Eighth of January" and "The Lakes of Pontchartrain", which both refer to the Battle of New Orleans, the final combat of the War of 1812, fought on 8 January 1815. The War of 1812 website features a number of songs and their lyrics, including the rousing march "The British Bayoneteers", and the patriotic call to arms, "The Bold Canadian", which celebrates the British capture of Detroit in 1812.
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SEEN IN THE PRESS
Second painting found behind a Goya masterpiece: could it be Joseph Bonaparte?
Using x-ray technology, scientists at Delft University and Antwerp University, working with art curators at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, have discovered that one of Goya's masterpieces, a portrait of Don Ramón Satué (a Madrid supreme court judge) which dates from 1823, hides an earlier painting of a French military officer. It has even been suggested that the painting could perhaps be a portrait of Joseph Bonaparte, depicted during his short reign as king of Spain. The Guardian (UK) report covers the full details and includes an interactive image that allows you to visualise the two layered portraits.
200 YEARS AGO
Cabaleurs
An intriguing scourge of French theatre during the Consulate and Empire (and indeed prior to these periods) was the cabaleur phenomenon, by which organised groups of individuals who whistled, booed and even applauded excessively particular plays or actors in order to disrupt them or bring them to a halt. Motives varied, but whilst respect for theatre traditions often played a role, political concerns could often be found behind the haranguing of an actor or performance. Indeed, Talma, Napoleon's favourite actor, was forced to interrupt a performance of Fénelon to justify himself before a crowd of rowdy Muscadins (anti-Jacbobin youths), who accused him of terrorism, betrayal, and complicity in the execution of his thespian colleagues. Clearly concerned about the theatrical environment (as we saw in bulletin n° 557, Napoleon had already sought to reduce the number of theatres in Paris in October 1810) and its potential for unrest and disruption, the Parisian authorities - as noted in the Police report from 2 October 1811 - clamped down on cabaleur presence at the Théâtre-Français:
"As a result of the disruption to a performance at the Théâtre-Français caused by several cabaleurs, the minister has charged the préfecture de police to prevent all known offenders from attending [the theatre]. Here are the results: thirteen were identified and summoned to the préfecture; amongst them were Leblond, hairdresser, and Ledoux, ex-actor, arrested in 1809 as leaders of cabaleur [groups], each with thirty to forty individuals who whistled or applauded, depending on the instructions received, in various theatres in Paris. At the time, they were expressly forbidden from entering any theatre, on pain of expulsion from Paris (bull. of 22 and 28 March 1809); both have been placed under surveillance in their region. The eleven others have been forbidden from attending the theatre, subject to the same sentence."
150 YEARS AGO
Napoleon III meets Wilhelm I of Prussia
On 6 October 1861, the recently-crowned king of Prussia, Wilhelm I, arrived in Paris on an official visit. His brother, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, had ruled until 1857, when he was left partially paralysed following a stroke. Wilhelm served as regent until his brother's death on 2 January 1861, when he was crowned king of Prussia. Under Wilhelm (a former soldier himself), in collaboration with his Chief of General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke, his War Minister, General Albrecht von Roon, and later Otto von Bismarck, his prime minister, Prussia's army underwent considerable reform. It was this vastly improved field army that would go on to defeat France in 1870, under the careful orchestration of von Bismarck.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 597, 30 SEPTEMBER – 6 OCTOBER, 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
Press review
- The Guardian: second painting found behind a Goya masterpiece
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.
Exhibitions
- "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire", Melbourne, Australia [02/06/2012 - 07/10/2012]
Full details
NAPOLEON.ORG
The best of the month:
- Book of the month
- Painting of the month
- Objet d'Art of the month
- Article of the month
NAPOLEONICA.LA REVUE
Available free on Cairn.info
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