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THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN n° 699, 31 JANUARY-6 FEBRUARY, 2014
ST HELENA, SMALL ISLAND...
Thierry Lentz, director of the Fondation Napoléon, is just back from St Helena, and he has provided us with a snapshot of a very positive situation. The journey was long and the work sessions intense, but the progress is more than encouraging (both in terms of deadline and budget). Here then is our report to you, our generous benefactors, who took part in the international appeal, which began in four years ago. The “Save Napoleon I's house on St Helena” appeal, a project with which the government of St Helena is closely associated, has so far gone extremely well. A good number of items have made the journey to Paris and are currently being restored by experts at Rueil Malmaison and in Paris. The remaining pieces are being refurbished on site, and this is providing an opportunity for the training of young Helenians in furniture restoration and creating jobs on the island. Napoleon on St Helena is thus providing a marvellous opportunity for Franco-British collaboration in remembering our common history and at the same time preserving heritage and reinvigorating the island through the figure of Napoleon I.
PROJECT UPDATES
Save Napoleon's House on St Helena Update
Airport Project Celebrates Second Anniversary
Blog of Michel Dancoisne-Martineau, director of the Domaines Nationaux in St-Helena (in French, with many interesting photos)
Project summary and results, as of 1 January, 2014 (monthly update)
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OBJECT OF THE MONTH > Napoleon's travel 'nécessaire'
Smaller than the 'large nécessaires' in vermeil or silver, the travel nécessaires or 'nécessaires de portemanteau' were easier to transport and provided everything needed for personal hygiene and writing. Napoleon had several, and he was frequently replacing them, particularly after the significant losses in Russia. He bought more than twelve, each one costing 400 francs, most of which were rather plain. The one here was taken to Saint Helena, and offered to Las Cases in October 1815. This travel 'nécessaire' is currently on loan by the Fondation Napoléon to the exhibition "Napoléon en bivouac", and it will soon be on show at the Palais Fesch in Ajaccio (Corsica).
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EXHIBITION > CHARLES MARVILLE: PHOTOGRAPHER OF PARIS
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Charles Marville was commissionned to photograph both the old streets of Paris and the new before and during Baron Haussmann's works on the city, under Napoleon III. From 29 January to 4 May, 2014.
EXHIBITION > NAPOLEON'S TRAVELLING FURNITURE AT THE PALAIS FESCH IN AJACCIO (CORSICA)
More than 70 objects and paintings showing Napoleon's everyday life when campaigning are to be displayed from 13 February to 12 May, 2014, in the exhibition Napoléon au bivouac, presented by the Museum of Fine Arts in Ajaccio and the Mobilier National. Come and admire the great bivouac tent, recently restored, along with all the other everyday necessities.
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FONDATION NAPOLEON NEWS
> Fondation Napoléon Cercles d'Etudes: "Health and Medical Treatment for soldiers of the Grande Armée"
Jean-Pascal and Charles-Henry Tranié will present their talk (in French) on “Health and Medical Treatment for soldiers of the Grande Armée” at the Fondation Napoléon on 13 February, 2014, at 5:30pm. By reservation only: bookings open on 3 February. Call (+33 1 56 43 46 00) or e-mail Brigitte Claré.
> Presentation of the exhibition Napoleon, His Life, His Legend
On Monday 17 February, the Fondation Napoléon is hosting a presentation organised together with the French National Museums Association (RMN), about the exhibition Napoleon, His Life, His Legend, currently in Astana (Kazakhstan) until 23 February, 2014. By reservation only: bookings open now. Call (+33 1 56 43 46 00) or e-mail Brigitte Claré.
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NAPOLEON AND… MUSICALS
"It's springtime for Napoleon and Musicals"...
> Napoleon, the Man Who Never Sleeps - Beyond Love and Glory, in Japan
If you follow us on Facebook, you must already know about this musical, staged by the famous all-female Japanese company Takarazuka in celebration of their 100th anniversary. The music was written by French composer Gérard Presgurvic.
> Napoleon, the rock opera, in Montereau, France
This rock opera was written by historian Dimitri Casali, and it tells the story of Napoleon's life in 16 songs. If you're in France, don't miss it in Montereau on 15 February, for the commemoration of the French Campaign. (in French)
> Napoleon, the concert, in Orange, France
The Théâtre Antique in Orange is paying hommage to the musical by Serge Lama and Yves Gilbert with this concert version of their work on 17 May. Bookings open on 5 February. (in French)
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207 YEARS AGO > 5 FEBRUARY, 1807: DEATH OF PAOLI
Read our Close-up on Pascal Paoli, a great figure of Corsican independence, who profoundly influenced the young Napoleon Bonaparte.
200 YEARS AGO > FRENCH DEFEAT AT LA ROTHIÈRE AND RETREAT TO TROYES
The Battle of La Rothière was in fact the second day of the Battle of Brienne. It started at 1pm on 1 February but was lost in five hours by the French, who were outnumbered by more than 2 to 1 (40,000 vs 100,000 combined allies). After his troops had fought heroically and suffered great losses, Napoleon ordered a retreat via the Lesmont bridge, which Schwartzenberg had not managed to take, and the French retired to the Brienne château towards 8pm. The Emperor left Brienne on 2 February, spent the night in Piney, and entered Troyes at about 3pm on Thursday 3. He was to stay there three days. It was there he learnt that Blücher had decided to march on Paris without coordinating his movements with Schwartzenberg; the latter's shortcomings at La Rothière had greatly annoyed Blücher. Napoleon happily seized upon this separation of the two armies, which in fact levelled the playing field for him.
150 YEARS AGO > DEATH OF THE ENGLISH AUTHOR WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY (1811-1863)
On Monday 1 February, 1864, the Moniteur devotes three columns of his pages to an inspired elegy of the recently departed British author, William Makepeace Thackeray, who died on 23 December, 1863. Surprising? Perhaps not so much considering that this elegy was written by Emile Montégut, famous French critic and a specialist of English literature. Montégut translated the complete works of Shakespeare into French and also introduced famous British writers such as Miss Brontë, George Eliot and Macaulay to the French readership. This long and laudatory article is also even less surprising considering the 7,000 who attended Thackeray's funeral in London. Born in 1811 in India, Thackeray was sent to boarding-school in England at a very young age, like most gentlemen's sons at the time. He then followed on this path to Cambridge, which he left without a degree to go and travel to the continent where he met Goethe in Germany, and attempted to improve his talents as a caricaturist in Paris. Once back in England he started to write in newspapers such as Punch Magazine and The Times, and his first novels were published under a pseudonym. His Book of Snobs (1848) was first serialized in 1846-7 in Punch, at the same time as Vanity Fair, one of his most famous works. Thackeray remained fascinated by French politics throughout his life (the French Nation he said was "great hot-headed, gallant, boasting, sublime, absurd"), and the Napoleonic episodes, both first and second, formed the watermark of his writing. Moving in liberal circles he even lived close to other London-based Napoleonists such as Benjamin Haydon and Barry O'Meara. His Napoleonic interests led him to publish (under a pseudonym) an account of the return to Europe of the “Great Napoleon's” mortal remains entitled The Second Funeral of Napoleon (London, 1841) (External link).
Also in the Moniteur on Sunday 31 January, 1864, Viollet-le Duc (the great architect of Louis-Napoléon's huge mediaeval jeu d'esprit, the Château de Pierrefonds and friend of Eugénie) is reported to have opened the class on Art Esthetics and History of Art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris with so much success that the building could not contain the crowd of students come to listen to the great master.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks and Lucie Louvrier
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 699, 31 JANUARY-6 FEBRUARY, 2014
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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 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.
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