| |
| |
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN n° 693, 6-12 DECEMBER, 2013
EDITORIAL > “Out with the old, in with the new”?
At the Fondation Napoléon we have the privilege to work with both modern technologies and traditional media as we bring to you, our readers, information and resources. And we've been doing it since 1996! You all know our bilingual website, napoleon.org, which grew over the years in parallel with the internet, and which is today a sort of ‘documentation database' on the two Napoleonic Empires. Alongside napoleon.org, there's napoleonica.org, our website of digital archives; nor should we forget the e-books in our digital library. Napoleonica.la revue is a history journal available exclusively online. So you can't say we haven't embraced the new! However, in our Christmas selection this year, you will see that good old paper books still take pride of place; and why not support the local high street by buying them from a good old-fashioned bookshop? In a similar way, it is true that for a dozen or so years now, museums have been offering excellent online exhibitions. And yet this hasn't stopped the investment in, and organisation of, ‘physical' exhibitions in ‘geographical' places all over the world. We are delighted to be participating in one such event, this time in Kazakhstan, where for two months the exhibition "Napoleon, His Life, His Legend" will be on show in the capital, Astana. We see no contradiction in our desire to support these various media, both physical and digital, in the sharing of knowledge, information and resources on the two French Empires. Is it not simply that: “more is… more!”?
Irène Delage, Head of Documentation
|
|
|
| |
EXHIBITION in KAZAKHSTAN > “NAPOLEON, HIS LIFE, HIS LEGEND” in ASTANA
This exhibition is part of the "French Season" in Kazakhstan and is taking place at the Independence Palace, Astana, Kazakhstan. It is organised in collaboration with the Grand Palais Department of the French national museum body, the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, and the Fondation Napoléon, with support from the French Embassy in Kazakhstan. It presents some 300 works of art, manuscripts and items of furniture, on display for the first time in Astana, representative of the intense artistic, scientific and political life in early 19th-century France.
|
|
|
| |
OBJECT OF THE MONTH > NAPOLEON I's HUNTING GUN
Signed Le Page à Paris - Arquebusier de l'Empereur
Engraved inscription "Ile d'Aix le 15 juillet à 8 heures du soir, 1815".
This large hunting gun was presented by Napoleon to Captain Besson on 14 July, 1815 as a final gift of thanks for having organised an escape attempt to America. Captain Besson wrote in his memoirs the following passage about this gun: "then from the weapons for his personal use which were stacked in a corner of the room he [Napoleon] took a sumptuous double-barrelled gun which he had taken with him hunting for many years and, holding it out to me, said in a voice full of emotion, ‘I have nothing left in this world to give you, my friend, but this gun. Please take it as a reminder of me.'
> This hunting gun, a part of the Masterpieces of the Fondation Napoléon Collection, is currently part of the exhibition "Napoleon: His Life, His Legend", in Astana (Kazakhstan).
|
|
|
| |
CHRISTMAS SELECTION
It's "that" time of the year when we at the Fondation Napoléon also put on our Christmas cracker hats and start shopping for the festive season. Short of ideas? Look no further: the Fondation Napoléon has selected for you the best of the year in Napoleonic history, coffee table books, novels, DVDs and so forth.
|
|
|
| |
WHAT'S ON
- 14th Marie-Louise week in Parma: “Les jolis paysages” of Marie-Louise of Habsburg and Landscape Painting in the Duchy of Parma. Inauguration on Saturday 7 December, 2013. Guided tours and temporary exhibition until 14 December, 2013. Concert on Marie-Louise's fortepiano on Sunday 15 December.
- Symposium: "La France à Philadelphie - Joseph Bonaparte and the French Influence in 19th Century Philadelphia" on 7 and 8 December, 2013.
- Flames across Niagara - War of 1812 Commemorative events (Fort Erie, Buffalo and Niagara-on-the-Lake) on 6 and 7 December, 2013.
PRESS REVIEW
- The British Ambassador in Paris, Sir Peter Ricketts, launches a series of events in 2014 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the ambassador's residence, the Hôtel de Charost (formerly property of Napoleon's sister, Pauline Borghese, and sold to the Duke of Wellington in 1815).
- Abel Gance's movie "Napoleon" (1927) was shown in London with live orchestra before an audience of 2,500 people on 30 November, 2013. We bring you here interviews with the director who restored the movie, the composer who restored the score and conducted it. There's also two reviews and a video trailer. Details here.
- When Beethoven's 7th Symphony was premiered on 8 December, 1813, listeners were invited to hear the slow movement as an elegy to those who had fallen at the battle two months earlier at Leipzig. This article published on dw.de tells the story.
DIGITAL LIBRARY > Schuermans, Itinéraire général de Napoléon, 1908
In English, only R. M. Johnston's The Corsican; a diary of Napoleon's life in his own words (1910) comes close to Albert Schuermans' remarkable (and to this day unsurpassed) day-by-day account of Napoleon's life, from a 15th of August to a 5th of May, fifty-two years later. Even the more recent Itinéraire de Napoléon au jour le jour (Tallendier, 1992) is less useful in that this latter book has no notes and therefore no indication of the source for the information. And it was precisely this advance that Schuermans had made on his early nineteenth-century predecessors, as was underlined by Henry Houssaye in his introduction to the young Schuermans' prize-winning book (The Académie Française awarded the book the Prix Thérouanne before 1911). So if you want to get all the details as to where Napoleon was and when, this is your baby (in French)! Download it here from the Fondation Napoléon's Digital Library.
|
|
|
| |
200 YEARS AGO > The five-day battle (Nive and St Pierre) around Bayonne
After a long period of wet weather in the Pyrenees, the sun came out, and Wellington confident in the sunshine and in the news of Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig, decided to advance upon the key fortress of Bayonne on 9 December, 1813. With the roads however still in a waterlogged state, he launched an indecisive attack on the French positions before Bayonne. Soult thought Wellington's position weak (the latter's troops were separated by the swollen river Nive) and launched a counterattack on the following day. This too foundered, not just because of the weather but also from the chopped-up nature of the terrain – in the absence of a precise battle line, detachments found themselves either surrounded or attacked from behind. The British and allied troops held on, and the two days ended in stalemate, both sides having lost about 2,000 men. As Wellington attempted to consolidate his position around Bayonne, Soult once again tried to take advantage of the Anglo-Irish general's ‘false' position across the Nive and attacked the British right under Hill before St Pierre d'Irube, cut off from the rest of the army by the exceptionally high Nive – so high that an allied pontoon bridge had been swept away. Once again, the British and allied troops held on in the face of a stiff French attack – some Portuguese divisions performed particularly well and saving some British bacon – and Soult was forced to fall back on Bayonne having lost nearly 6,000 men over the five preceding days – only 800 more than his opponents. The writing was on the wall for the French Empire. With France close to being invaded, foreign contingents within the French army (notably German or Italian in the theatre around Bayonne) were either returning home or being sent back – this despite Napoleon's orders to have them disarmed and interned far from the front line.
150 YEARS AGO > Preparation of an International Peace Congress in Europe
During the autumn of 1863, Napoleon III sent out invitations to a European peace congress. The aim was to bring together all the sovereigns of Europe, in particular for discussions on the Polish insurrection against the Russian occupation of Polish territories (see Bulletins n° 657, 659 and 682). Throughout November 1863, replies to the French emperor were received from representatives of the nations contacted – these replies were published in Le Moniteur on 6 and 7 December, 1863. The Swiss Confederation notably thanked Napoleon III for extending them an offer to sit in on this congress, and was very keen that this meeting should take place. The King of Saxony, Johann I, was also supportive of the congress, but he thought it best to have limited aims and that Napoleon III should fix “wise limits and avoid any ambitious project”. Yet the most eagerly awaited reply was that from the ruler most directly involved in the Polish conflict, namely Alexander II. His reply was thus published in Le Moniteur on 7 December: the Tsar laid out his defence of his progressive ideas in length and highlighted the fact that he had abolished compulsory conscription for his army six years previously, and that he had implemented reforms for his people. He was however reticent to join the peace congress, and this was most clearly expressed towards the end of his letter, where he asked Napoleon III to “give precise details regarding questions, which, in his mind, should be agreed upon as the basis of this future agreement”. Put bluntly, once the polite preamble was over, Alexander II wanted to establish in advance the results of the congress as a condition for his participation.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks and Lucie Louvrier
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 693, 6-12 DECEMBER, 2013
Interested in the work of the Fondation Napoléon? Why not participate, either generally or in a specific project, by making a donation?
© 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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
OPERATION ST HELENA
The Fondation Napoléon and the Souvenir Napoléonien, in association with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have announced the prolongation of its 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.
You can still donate online to the project via the Friends of the Fondation de France in the US here.
ALWAYS AVAILABLE
Problems with a link in this letter?
- Check the homepage on napoleon. org
- View back numbers of the bulletin
- Contact us
Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter!
napoleon. org - related content:
MAGAZINE
EVENTS
On now and coming up
See our selection of events taking place now or in the coming weeks, in our What's on listings.
SEEN ON THE WEB
- Ever heard of the novels taking place during the Napoleonic Wars, Master and Commander? Nicola Griffith gives here some good reasons to read the books, even though you might not have liked the movies.
- Lancaster County (Pennsylvania, USA) dedicate a marker about a hero of a famous War of 1812 naval battle
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
THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
The library is open on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 1pm – 6pm and on Thursdays from 10am – 3pm. The library will be closed from 24 December 2013 to 1 January 2014 and closed on Friday 3 January.
Online catalogue
Digital Library
Contact
ACCOUNT DETAILS
To change your email address, unsubscribe, and sign up for the French information bulletin.
|
|
