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In this week's letter...
We bring you a remarkable Risorgimento image as painting of the month. The Sentinel is currently on display in the Paris Musée de l'Armée's grand exhibition on Italy and the Risorgimento. The show is closing on the 15th of January, 2012, so if you're in Paris over the Christmas period, don't forget to drop in - it's well worth it. Still in the 'holiday season' vein, next up is our Christmas selection. And some of the items highlighted there form part of the Operation St Helena project, so spend "without moderation" on those ones. We follow this with photographs of the glitzy Fondation Napoléon awards held in the sumptuous Palace of Foreign Affairs in Paris. And given the time of year it's not surprising that the next two items are also Xmas related, with Victorian celebrations in the UK and an interesting podcast from the British National Archives on the flip side of overindulging, the poor in the 1790s and popular unrest in Georgian Britain. '200 years ago' recounts further preparations for the coming conflict in Russia and '150 years ago' notes the untimely (really, he was only in his forties) demise of the British Prince Consort, Albert. Enjoy.
PS: if you're near Parma (Italy), don't miss Marie Louise Week at the Glauco Lombardi Museum - details here to the right.
PPS: Next week's letter will be the last of the year.
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PAINTING OF THE MONTH
Sentinella, by Gerolamo Induno
The night of 2 June 1849, 30,000 soldiers under the command of General Oudinot attacked the fortifications on the Janiculum hill. It would be another month before the French expeditionary corps - greater in number, arms and equipment - would succeed in entering Rome. Amongst those resisting the French offensive on Rome was Gerolamo Induno, a young painter from Milan, whose painting Sentinella presents a rather insouciant looking volunteer gazing out at the approaching French troops.
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NAPOLEON.ORG
Christmas Selection 2011
The festive period is all about tradition, and one of the Fondation Napoléon's own traditions is the Christmas Selection. Our annual round-up of some of the best releases - be it books or other Napoleonic items - is a great place to start if you are looking for gift ideas, or simply fancy catching up on what has been published in the Napoleonic world over the last twelve months or so. The digital media revolution continues apace, and those looking to keep abreast of these developments will find plenty of digital audio and ebook links as well.
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FONDATION NAPOLEON
History Prizes and Research Grants Awards Ceremony, Paris
At a glittering event, on Thursday 8 December, 2011, at the French Governement Palace of Foreign and European Affairs, Paris, the Princess Napoléon awarded on behalf of the Fondation Napoléon the 2011 History Prizes and Resarch Grants.
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WHAT'S ON
Victorian Christmas at Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum, UK
With Christmas almost upon us, those in and around Leamington Spa, UK, can wander along to the Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum (at the Royal Pump Rooms) to experience a Victorian Christmas and perhaps even get some ideas for more traditional gifts to give. Visitors will be able to take part in a variety of activities - including making cinnamon bunches, popcorn tinsel and cards - inspired by the way the Victorians celebrated Christmas.
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Podcast: "'A low artful wicked man': poverty riots and bread, the response of government to the crises of the 1790s"
As part of their series of broadcast discussions, The National Archives (UK) have published their podcast on the British poverty riots during the 1790s. This discussion is particularly topical in light of the report analysing the summer riots in Britain which was released last week. The National Archives' podcast features Paul Carter and Julie Halls talking about the factors - including war with France, increasing industrialisation and poor harvests - behind the riots that broke out at the end of the 18th century and the government's reaction.
200 YEARS AGO
Silesia and the Russian Campaign
On 3 December 1811, Napoleon wrote thus to his brother Jerome to express his relief at the latter's fortuitous escape from a fire that ripped through his château in Cassel: "My brother, it pained me to learn of the accident that befell you. It is most fortunate that neither you nor the queen were unharmed." Not being one to miss an opportunity, however, Napoleon proceeded (in an autograph post-scriptum dated 9 December) to question his brother on Silesia and what it would take to seize it.
"P.S. Inform me of the state of your troops as of 1 December: infantry, cavalry, artillery; how many divisions you could put together and how they would be commanded. All this must be kept secret. Tell me of your artillery, transports, and engineering tools. How many men would you need in order to occupy Silesia? How many do you have of the men of 1807? What fortified sites need to be seized?" (Correspondence of Napoleon, Second Empire Edition, n° 18,316)
Napoleon knew that for the approaching campaign against Russia he would require a huge amount of munitions and supplies, as well as stable territory where he could station his reserves, assure his lines of communication, and from which he could launch his invasion proper. Silesia (a region today split up between Poland, the Czech Republic and a small part of south-eastern Germany) was a particularly fertile area which had already been invaded once by Napoleon's troops - in 1807 - as part of the war with Prussia. It thus offered excellent potential as a military base: indeed, following the treaty agreed with Prussia at Tilsit in July 1807, a small part of Silesia - known as New Silesia, a Prussian province based around Siewierz - had already been transferred to the Duchy of Warsaw. And although Upper and Lower Silesia remained nominally Prussian, Napoleon ensured a continued French presence in Lower Silesia (in and around Glogau) from 1807 onwards, and a French military road linked the (French-allied) Saxon Kingdom with Warsaw. As for Upper Silesia (today the area around Racibórz and Lubliniec, in modern Poland), Napoleon continued to maintain this Prussian territory as off-limits to French troops. As the Russian campaign turned sour and Napoleon evacuated the eastern territories on his retreat back to Paris, the Prussian king Frederick III signed the Treaty of Kalisz (28 February 1813) with Russia and - finding Berlin still occupied by French troops - decamped to Breslau, where he delivered his An Mein Volk, effectively launching the Prussian offensive against Napoleon.
150 YEARS AGO
The death of Prince Albert
On 14 December 1861, the husband of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert died from what was recorded at the time as typhoid fever (modern-day analyses have suggested that he was suffering from a more chronic disease, such as cancer). The suddenness of his death - The Times' obituary on 16 December 1861 noted simply that he was believed "slightly indisposed" whilst The Morning Post warned readers not to "exaggerate fears" - shocked the country and sent Victoria into profound mourning, a state of grief that she would continue to observe until the end of her own life nearly forty years later. The Moniteur Universel on 16 December noted:
"The fear that has been spreading across England, which the telegram transmitted to us yesterday, has been confirmed all too quickly. A final dispatch from Windsor has confirmed the fatal denouement. The Prince Consort died yesterday [the editorial being written on the previous day] at eleven o'clock in the evening. This terrible event, such a premature and prompt end, has plunged into mourning the august queen of Great Britain, the English royal family and the English nation. The Emperor, the imperial family and the whole of France are united in their sympathy [...] for this pain."
Albert's funeral was held a week later, on 23 December. Initially interred in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, his remains were moved to Frogmore Estate, next to Windsor.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 607, 9 - 15 DECEMBER, 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...
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.
Cinema
- The Risorgimento in Italian cinema, Paris, France [06/12/2011 - 09/12/2011]
Full details
Festivals
- Twelfth Marie-Louise Week at the Museo Glauco Lombardi, Parma, Italy [10/12/2011 - 18/12/2011]
Full details
Open days
- A Victorian Christmas, Leamington Spa, UK [10/12/2011]
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
NAPOLEONICA ARCHIVES ONLINE
THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
The library will be closed exceptionally on 13 December 2011.
Online catalogue
Digital Library
Contact
ACCOUNT DETAILS
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