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EDITORIAL
Just as our book of the month in English explores a wonderful selection of Napoleonic satirical prints from the collection of the British Museum, its French counterpart this month recounts for the first time the story of how the collection of another world-renowned museum, the Louvre, was saved, as well as the buidling itself, in extremis from a devastating fire as the Second Empire crumbled.
One can't help but notice since the beginning of this year, the effervescence of activities surrounding Napoleon taking place in museums, whether large or small, all over Europe. As a kind of intellectual preparation, as we pace ourselves for the upcoming bicentenary of the Belgian campaign, many of these exhibitions question the First Empire: its arts, in Compiègne; its urban projects, at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris; its relation to the papacy at Fontainebleau; the printed propaganda that it inspired in Britain; its geopolitical influence in Bavaria ... and its end, at Waterloo. This list is far from exhaustive - our letter and our agenda will provide you with plenty more to keep you busy! As the days grow longer during this month of May with its public holidays and even a Night of Museums, we hope you will find the opportunity to make the most of all that is on offer. And in case you are unable to get to these shows, there are also some beautiful exhibition catalogues to browse from the comfort of your own armchair. We hope you enjoy this week's letter.
Marie de Bruchard
Web Editor for napoleon.org
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BOOK OF THE MONTH > BONAPARTE AND THE BRITISH: PRINTS AND PROPAGANDA IN THE AGE OF NAPOLEON
Richly-illustrated with intricately-detailed prints from the British Museum's extensive collection, this catalogue for the current exhibition in London, explores the diverse ways in which Napoleon was represented, on the one hand by the satirists as well as by more traditional portraitists. The illustrations cover the whole of the Emperor's career, which coincided with the peak of political satire as an art form. The text is an enlightening and enjoyable read as authors Tim Clayton and Shiela O'Connell put the images in their historical, commercial and political context.
Our French book of the month is LE BRASIER. LE LOUVRE INCENDIÉ PENDANT LA COMMUNE, in which Nicolas Chaudin exposes a hidden part of the fall of the Second Empire and how the Louvre was saved from the devastating fire which destroyed the Tuileries Palace.
CERCLE D'ÉTUDES LECTURE SERIES AT THE FONDATION NAPOLÉON
Inscriptions for the talk by Tristan Florenne, "L'Acte additionnel aux constitutions de l'Empire", which will take place on the 19 May at the Fondation Napoléon as part of it's lecture séries “100 days” will start on 7 May. Présentation and inscription form (in French).
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DEATH OF NAPOLEON I > CEREMONIES
> PARIS. Organised by the Gouverneur militaire de Paris, le Gouverneur des Invalides and the Imperial Family, the annual mass in memory of the first Emperor Napoleon and of soldiers who died for France will take place on 5 May at the Cathedral Saint-Louis des Invalides at 18h30, presided by HIH the Prince Napoléon and General Jean-Louis Georgelin, Grand-Chancelier of the Légion d'Honneur, representing the President of France, François Hollande. The mass will be preceded, at 18h, by the laying of wreaths, including one from the Fondation Napoléon, at the foot of the Emperor's tomb beneath the dome of Les Invalides.
> ST HELENA. On the island where Napoleon passed away, the ceremony at the grave of Napoleon will take place on 2nd May, at 10am. Wreaths will be laid by the French territory on the island, on behalf of the President François Hollande, by the Governor on behalf of the government of St Helena and on behalf of the Fondation Napoléon, (see photos of the 2014 ceremony).
REMEMBERING NAPOLEON > MANZONI'S POEM "CINQUE MAGGIO"
The Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873) wrote two works that assured his immortal fame: the novel, "I Promessi Sposi" ("The Betrothed"), published in 1827, and his poem, "Il cinque Maggio", ("the Fifth of May"), published in 1821, the bane of all Italian school-children, forced to memorize the heavy, overwrought stanzas. The poem, “The Fifth of May”, with its iconic opening "Egli fu" ("He has passed"), was an extended reflection upon the French Emperor and the glory associated with his name. It was written in the space of three days after learning of Napoleon's death on St Helena in the Milanese newspaper Gazzetta di Milano, 16 July 1821. Manzoni's hymn to Napoleonic glory struck a chord with Italian readers, and the poem was to become a standard school text. It was even set to music by Berlioz (1831–1835). What better Napoleonic reading matter for the august date?
Read the English translation, The Fifth of May, or the original in Italian Cinque Maggio (external links).
“CINQUE MAGGIO” STUDY DAY
The thirteenth edition of this annual study day (external link) organized by Circolo Culturale "L'Agorà" and the Centro studi "Gioacchino e Napoleone", will cover the theme "The Calabrians in the wake of the Grande Armée". The meeting will be held on Thursday, May 7 starting at 6 pm at the conference hall of the Church of San Giorgio al Corso, Via Guidecca in Reggio Calabria, Italy.
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EXHIBITIONS > NAPOLEON AND BAVARIA', INGOLSTADT, GERMANY
From 30 April to 30 October, the Bayerisches Armeemuseum which is part of the Neues Schloss in the town of Ingolstadt, Germany, where Napoleon stayed several times, will host an exhibition, "Napoleon und Bayern", retracing the history of Bavaria as part of the First Empire. For this event, the Fondation Napoléon has lent a box with a miniature portrait by Isabey of Napoleon I wearing his coronation garments, an Etruscan vase by the Sevres manufacturers bearing a reproduction of the baptismal medal of the King of Rome, and a bronze statuette of the General Bonaparte sitting on a dromedary.
FINE PORCELAIN TELLS THE STORY OF NAPOLEON AT NIVELLES, BELGIUM.
The musée communal d'Archéologie, d'Art et d'Histoire in Nivelles (Belgium) retraces the Napoleonic epic through an exhibition of more than 100 articles of printed fine porcelain produced by manufacturers from Belgium, Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and France: “Napoléon raconté par la faïence fine” (external link in French).
EXHIBITION CATALOGUES ONLINE
The catalogues of several of the current exhibitions about the First Empire in France are available on the website of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux. They include "Pie VII face à Napoléon", "Napoléon et Paris", and "Cap sur l'Amérique - La dernière utopie de Napoléon".
The catalogue of "Bonaparte and the British" (our book of the month) is also currently available at the special museum price on the website of the British Museum and "Wellington: Triumphs, Politics and Passions" can be ordered from the National Portrait Gallery on-line shop.
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MUSEUMS AT NIGHT (UK) > NUIT EUROPÉENNE DES MUSÉES 2015 (FR)
The weekend of 15 and 16 May gives a chance to visit many museums across Europe in the evening, so why not take the opportunity to discover or rediscover one of the many museums or current exhibitions with a napoleonic theme? In London participating museums include the National Portrait Gallery ("Wellington: Triumphs, Politics and Passions") and Apsley House ("Waterloo 1815 the Battle for Peace").
And if you happen to be in or near to Paris on the 16th May the Musée Carnavalet, as well as offering free entry to the exhibition Napoléon et Paris, is putting on a historic reconstruction in the garden and a concert between 7 and 11 pm. The dome church of Les Invalides and its Army Museum is also free until midnight, as well as the Château de Fontainebleau (between 7.30pm and midnight) including the visit of Napoleon III's grand apartments and the garden, and at the Château de Malmaison from 7-11pm, visitors are invited to learn some historic dances.
200 YEARS AGO > THE JOURNAL UNIVERSEL AND LOUIS XVIII'S MANIFESTO IN GHENT. Upon news of Napoleon's approach, Louis XVIII had fled north from Paris on 19 March, ending up in Ghent on 30 March. There, he gathered together a government of supporters loyal to the Bourbons. The king was counting on the Journal Universel, a four-page newspaper paid from the royal coffers and which had published for the first time on 14 April, to counter the Moniteur Universel, which now supported Napoleon. The Journal Universel, also known as the ‘Ghent Moniteur', thus continued to publish support for Louis XVIII until 21 June. The Bertin brothers, journalists who had been co-directors of the Journal des débats until 1811, took a fixed editorial line: extreme criticism of Napoleon Bonaparte, although there were also internal disagreements between the liberal royalists and the ultra-royalists. Lally-Tollendal and Chateaubriand, both liberals, were notable contributors to the paper. On 2 May 1815, Louis XVIII published a manifesto to French citizens, signed on 24 April. Within, he portrayed his restoration in 1814 as a defence against foreign oppression and reminded them of his new Charter and Constitution. He exhorted all French people, especially the National Guard, to rally around him against the ‘usurper'. Finally, he outlined his plans for reform: "People of France, the King who has always been close to you will soon be among you. When His Majesty once again sets foot upon his territory and yours, he will inform you in detail of his salutary intentions and of his just and wise plans for order. You will be assured that his period of retreat has wasted no time, as far as your interests are concerned". Nonetheless, the optimism of this declaration did not match up to reality. At this point, the exiled government had little room for manoeuvre, and Talleyrand's absence in Ghent was a bad sign…
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150 YEARS AGO > A PAINTING OF MODERN LIFE SENDS SHOCKWAVES THROUGH THE SALON. On the 1st May 1865, the much-awaited annual Salon opened. Having at least one work exhibited at the salon was an important event in the year of every artist. Two years earlier Manet's life-size painting “Le déjeuner sur l'herbe” (originally entitled “Le bain”) had been rejected by the jury, but was however presented in public as part of the “Salon des refusés”, which had been instituted by Napoleon III himself in response to the numerous protests by artists over the arbitrary methods of selection used by the official jury. That jury was elected by artists who were themselves members of the Institut and who had already received prizes or medals. The painting had caused quite a scandal: it was deemed improper for a nude woman to be depicted casually seated next to two fully-clothed gentlemen at what appeared to be a modern-day picnic. The salon was full of nudity, but this was invariably “justified” by a mythical or allegorical theme. Two years later Manet's “Olympia”, one of two of his paintings selected by the jury in 1865, would be the butt of even more virulent criticism. Whilst ostensibly depicting a nude woman (recognisably a portrait of the model, Victorine Meurent), propped up on a bed of white pillows, staring out directly towards the painter, while a black servant woman presents her with a bunch of flowers, “Olympia” was interpreted by contemporaries as a representation of a prostitute. Within the first week, people flocked to see the painting, which was met with cat-calls and laughter. Critics, surprisingly, did not recognise the compositional similarities with other historical nudes (such as Titian's Venus of Urbino), or even with orientalist-style harem scenes, in which the cultural context of an imaginary far-distant land would have made such sexual allusion “acceptable” for the eyes of the public, (or if they did, they probably saw it as a pastiche of these officially-accepted genres). The black cat at the end of the bed, the yellow shawl draped casually beneath the female body, and even the name “Olympia” were all details which were suggestive of the woman's illicit “profession”. Not only was the subject offensive to contemporary moeurs, the technique - which described the female form using free brush-strokes but at the same time in an almost photographic way, lit by a strong, clinical light - was shocking compared to the idealised softly-painted forms of the traditional nudes which filled the salon. In an 1836 study (external link in french) dealing with Prostitution in Paris, Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste Parent-Duchâtelet recognised that, while provoking widespread problems (such as disease), prostitution was a necessary element of society. “We will have arrived at the limit of perfection…if we arrange it so that men…can distinguish them [prostitutes] from honest women; but that those women, and especially their daughters, cannot make this distinction”. Manet's painting appeared unashamedly to break that illusion.
One of the few critics at the time who admired and dared to defend Manet's truthful and ground-breaking style was Emile Zola. Indeed Manet's painterly “Realism” would pave the way for artists (Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, and the “Impressionists”…) and indeed writers (Zola's own “Nana”) to explore the representation of modern life (including its prostitutes) in a realistic and more truthful way.
In 1881 Manet was awarded the Legion d'honneur shortly before his death in 1883, and in 1890, his painting "Olympia" was donated to the state thanks to a subscription organised by Claude Monet. Furthur reading: Why did Manet's Olympia so shock the critics of 1865? (external link).
Wishing you an excellent Napoleonic week!
Peter Hicks and Rebecca Young (with Syamala Roberts)
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN No. 757, 1 - 7 MAY, 2015
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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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WATERLOO BICENTENARY 1815-2015
What's on this year relating to the Bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo: commemorations, books, exhibitions, news ...
WATERLOO > WHAT'S ON (updated 1/5/15)
WATERLOO > SEEN ON THE WEB (updated 1/5/15)
WATERLOO > READING LIST (updated 1/5/15)
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napoleon.org - related content:
PRESS REVIEW (external links)
- Review of The News from Waterloo: the Race to Tell Britain of Wellington's Victory by Brian Cathcart in the Telegraph
JUST PUBLISHED
- GLOVER, Gareth, "Waterloo in 100 Objects" (London 2015)
- MCCRAE Carolyn, "A set of Lies" (London 2015)
WHAT'S ON (see our website for all events)
Talks
- The life of Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, talk by Major Colin Innes, Perth, Scotland [07/05/2015]
- 'Waterloo 1815-2015. Dans les coulisses du making of' Brussels, Belgium [12/05/2015]
- Waterloo and Wellington: Lecture Series, Apsley house, London [05/05/2015 - 21/06/2015]
- "Wellington at Waterloo" lecture by Saul David Windsor Castle, UK [06/05/2015]
- 'The News from Waterloo' talk by Brian Cathcart, Muswell Hill, UK [13/05/2015]
- "Battle of Waterloo: A Defining Moment", talk by Paul Chamberlain, Harpenden, Berkhamstead and Peterborough, UK [7/05/2015 and 11/05/2015 and 29/05/2015]
- "The Hundred Days: Napoleon's Road from Elba to Waterloo", talk by Mark Adkin, Army & Navy Club, London [11/06/2015]
- Andrew Roberts and Jenny Uglow talk about Waterloo, Charleston Festival, UK [16/05/2015]
- "Napoleon the Great", lecture by Andrew Roberts, British Museum [19/06/2015]
- Battle of Waterloo Commemorative Walks in London, UK [21/03/2015 - 20/06/2015]
Conferences
- Conference: 'Popular Reactions and State Responses to the 100 Days' University of Warwick, UK [07/07/2015]
Exhibitions
- Napoleon und Bayern Bayerisches Armeemuseum, Ingolstadt, Germany [30/04/2015 - 30/10/2015]
- Napoléon Ier ou la légende des Arts, 1800 –1815 Compiègne, France [24/04/2015 - 27/04/2015]
- "Waterloo 1815 - The Battle for Peace" at Wellington Arch and new display at Apsley House, London UK [18/04/2015 - 30/12/2015]
- Cap sur l'Amérique - La dernière utopie de Napoléon, Chateau de Malmaison, France [22/04/2015 - 20/07/2015]
- Napoléon et Paris, rêves d'une capitale, Musée Carnavalet, Paris [08/04/2015 - 30/08/2015]
- Le congrès de Vienne, l'invention d'une Europe nouvelle, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France [08/04/2015 - 30/07/2015]
- Napoléon-Wellington: Destins Croisés,Wellington Museum, Waterloo, Belgium [21/03/2015 - 31/07/2015]
- Waterloo 1815-2015: Visions of war, Bibliothèque Paul Marmotton, Paris, FR [15/04/2015 - 11/07/2015]
- Pie VII face à Napoléon : la Tiare dans les serres de l'Aigle Fontainebleau, FR [28/03/2015 - 29/06/2015]
- 'Alexander, Napoleon and Josephine: a story of war, art and friendship' Hermitage, Amsterdam, NL [28/03/2015 - 08/11/2015]
- Modern Heroism: Printmaking and the legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge UK [03/02/2015 - 28/06/2015]
- Wellington and Waterloo: "the tale is in every Englishman's mouth" University of Southampton, UK [13 April -19 June and 13-24 July 2015]
Commemorations
- Commemorations of the battle of Albuera in Portugal and Spain [14/05/2015 - 16/05/2015]
- Major Percy victory route (recreated by bike): The Ride of the Lions, Waterloo 200 [17/06/2015 - 20/06/2015]
WATERLOO > WHAT'S ON (updated 1/5/15)
SEEN ON THE WEB (all external links)
- Bicentenary of Napoleon's Exile Featured on New High Relief Crown Coin
- Bill Federer recounts French influence on America's development
- A German-Jewish doctor was one of the unsung heroes of the Battle of Waterloo
- Review of exhibition at Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK:Modern heroism, Lucrezia Baldo on Printmaking and the legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte
- Apsley House: Wellington's former home reopens
"WATERLOO" > SEEN ON THE WEB (link to our website, updated 1/5/15)
THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
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NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
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