To return to the site, www.napoleon.org, please click here.   Bulletin - Bulletin                    EDITORIAL > THE WAITING GAME 200 years ago Napoleon found himself in a confusing position. Without safe-passage, the Emperor (who no longer was one) was in a kind of limbo while the provisional government in France and the victorious (British) kingdom decided his fate. He stagnated on a boat between two shores, undoubtedly putting on a brave face to hide his nervousness. He was hounded by the press, both French and British, while certain painters and caricaturists – the paparazzi of the time – tried to capture his likeness. He literally became a tourist attraction, on board the British ship Bellerophon, which was moored off the Plymouth Coast in the South of England for ten days, and would make brief appearances on deck to the delight of those able to get close enough with whatever small crafts they could get their hands on. What a curious destiny, nearly a month after the battle of Waterloo, whose bicentenary still resonates in this Bulletin… So this week, dear readers, we are offering you a little excursion to the South Coast of England, the “English Riviera”, as it is ironically called by the author of a new book which explores the reactions of the British to their celebrity visitor. An exhibition in Plymouth takes as its focus a painting which depicts the effervescent scene in the Bay of Plymouth, as hundreds of boats jostle to get close to the fallen Emperor. And our painting of the month gives a sort of long-lens view of Napoleon awaiting his fate on board “Billy Ruffian” (as the ship became popularly known), captured by an eye-witness, the painter Charles Eastlake. We hope you enjoy this week's letter!   Marie de Bruchard Web-éditrice sur napoleon.org   FONDATION NAPOLÉON The Fondation Napoleon and its Library will be open all summer The Bibliothèque Martial-Lapeyre library will be open from Tuesday 7 July to Friday 28 August: (except Monday 6 July) Mondays and Tuesday from 1pm to 5pm and Thursday from 10am to 3pm. Closed: Wednesday and Fridays.        PAINTING OF THE MONTH > NAPOLEON BONAPARTE ON BOARD THE 'BELLEROPHON' IN PLYMOUTH SOUND The painter Charles Lock Eastlake, future curator of The National Gallery in London (UK), caused a sensation in London when he first presented this picture, a portrait of Napoleon waiting for the answer to his asylum application to the Prince Regent. The artist had made sketches from life in Plymouth Bay. Napoleon never set foot on the soil of this British port: Saint Helena was his next destination.        EXHIBITION > FALLEN EMPEROR: NAPOLEON IN PLYMOUTH SOUND IN 1815 (UK) An exhibition at the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery (until 26 September), is centred around a painting by artist Jules Girardet which shows Napoleon standing on the deck of HMS Bellerophon while hundreds of people in rowing boats flock to catch a glimpse of him. (For a different treatment of the same subject, by Eastlake see our painting of the month). Several talks and event for children are also planned. > The Napoleonic wars had a major impact on the development of Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport, or the “Three Towns” as they were then known. Find out more in this recent article (external link). > A volcanic rock from Longwood house on St Helena (where Napoleon spent his last years) has recently been brought to Plymouth, and will be incorporated into a memorial to commemorate the bicentenary of Napoleon's presence in the port of Plymouth Sound on board Bellerophon from 26 July to 4 August, 1815 (external link). The memorial will be built in Plymouth using granite stone from Dartmoor Prison, (which was itself built between 1806 and 1809 to house French captives during the Napoleonic Wars).         NAPOLEON'S GRAND BRITISH HOLIDAY… BOOK > THE REMARKABLE STORY OF BONAPARTE AND HIS DAYS ON THE ENGLISH RIVIERA. To coincide with the bicentenary of Napoleon's ten days spent in the port of Plymouth Sound (UK) awaiting his fate, a new book explores the 'celebrity welcome' given to the fallen Emperor by the literally thousands of Britons who flocked to the South Coast to catch a glimpse of him. Rich with eye-witness descriptions and contemporary illustrations, this book by Mike Holgate provides a fascinating insight into a short but pivotal moment in Napoleon's life. Read more in this interview (external link). NAPOLEON'S GRAND BRITISH HOLIDAY, THE MUSICAL! ... And as if writing a book wasn't enough, Mike Holgate has also written the words and music for an entertainment with the same title as the book, to be performed on 21 July at Paignton Library, Devon, UK. (external link)        WATERLOO > A CLOSE-UP ON …. BLÜCHER We have prepared a special dossier about Wellington's Prussian counterpart, Field Marshall Blücher, including documents, a timeline, biographies, and his involvement in the battle of Waterloo. > QUIZ To find out how much you know about the battle of Waterloo, why not try our online quiz! > BOOK Stephen Clarke, author of “1000 years of annoying the French”, and “A year in the merde”, sets out to explain in his most recent book “How the French won Waterloo (or think they did)”. Watch out those of you with a limited sense of humour; his tongue is firmly in his cheek! >INTERACTIVE MAPS And if you haven't yet had a look, check out this amazing digital map project around the Belgian Campaign, available in four languages: http://www.junibis.be/ (see also our interview with the designers).        200 YEARS AGO > FROM ROCHEFORT TO BELLEROPHON. Having still not received safe-passage documents he needed in order to go to America, Napoleon left Rochefort for Île-d'Aix, (an island off Rochefort). On the 10th July, he asked Savary and Las Cases to inform the captain of the British ship monitoring the port, Bellerophon, that he planned to seek asylum in Britain. Captain Maitland guaranteed Napoleon his protection as far as the British coast without giving any clue as to what fate would await him.     Wishing you an excellent Napoleonic week!   Peter Hicks and Rebecca Young (with Syamala Roberts) THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN No. 766, 3-9 JULY, 2015 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          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 3/7/15)   WATERLOO > SEEN ON THE WEB (updated 3/7/15) WATERLOO > READING LIST (updated 3/7/15)   Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter! napoleon.org - related content: JUST PUBLISHED - HOLGATE, Mike, Napoleon's Grand British Holiday: The Remarkable Story of Bonaparte and His Days on the English Riviera (London, 2015) - CLARKE, Stephen, How the French won Waterloo (or think they did) (London, 2015) PRESS REVIEW Review of Brendan Simms's “The Longest Afternoon: The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo”  by Stephen G. Smith in the Weekly Standard   WHAT'S ON (see our website for all events)   Talks  - 'Ghosts of 1812: "That Fatal Pasage" at Beresina: The French invasion of Russia and retreat from Moscow' Pine Rivers Heritage Museum, Australia [08/07/2015] - 'Hard Pounding Gentlemen!': the Tactics of Waterloo' by Professor Charles Esdaile, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham, UK [8/07/2015] - 'Shocking Sights of Woe: David Wilkie, Charles Bell and the Battle of Waterloo' - a NAM talk by Prof Philip Shaw Army and Navy Club, London, UK [09/07/2015] - 'The Women of Waterloo: From Ballroom to Battlefield' - a NAM talk by Dr Catriona Kennedy Army and Navy Club, London, UK [23/07/2015] - 'Commemorating Waterloo 1815-2015', by Dr Russ Foster, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham, UK [05/08/2015] Conferences - 'Popular Reactions and State Responses to the 100 Days' University of Warwick, UK [07/07/2015] - Endings and Beginnings: The World in 1815, Brussels, Belgium  [06/07/2015 - 10/07/2015] - 'Die Schlacht von Waterloo 1815 und die deutschen Truppen' Bomann-Museum, Celle, Germany [19/09/2015] Exhibitions - Fallen Emperor: Napoleon in Plymouth Sound in 1815, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, UK [23/05/2015 - 26/09/2015] NEW - Pierre-Paul Prud'hon: Napoleon's Draughtsman Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK [23/06/2015 - 15/11/2015] NEW - Napoleon's Last Gamble: Bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo and the Legacy of the Napoleonic Wars in Australia, Pine Rivers Heritage Museum, Australia [01/05/2015 -12/07/2015] LAST DAYS - 'La beauté de la guerre. Waterloo 1815-2015' Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels, Belgium  [17/06/2015 - 15/09/2015] - 'Waterloo and the March of Science', Herschel Museum of Astronomy, Bath, UK  [18/06/2015 - 13/12/2015] - 'Unseen Waterloo: The Conflict Revisited', Somerset House London UK  [12/06/2015 - 30/08/2015] - Braine-L'Alleud 1815: au chevet des blessés, Braine-L'Alleud, Belgium [06/06/2015 - 06/09/2015] - 'Immer wieder Napoleon...!' (Napoleon in film), Bomann-Museum Celle, Germany [07/06/2015 - 30/08/2015] - '"Victory Sir, Victory!" Henry Percy and the Battle of Waterloo, 1815', Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, UK [18/05/2015 - 30/10/2015] - Charging against Napoleon - Wellington's campaigns in the Peninsular Wars and at Waterloo  University of Nottingham, UK [22/05/2015 - 06/09/2015] - 'Waterloo 1815: The Art of Battle' Royal Armouries Museum Leeds, UK [22/05/2015 - 23/08/2015] - 'Napoléon dans les plaines de Fleurus' Château de la Paix, Fleurus, Belgium [22/05/2015 - 02/08/2015] - '"A damned serious business": Waterloo 1815, the battle and its books' Cambridge University Library, UK, and online [01/05/2015 - 16/09/2015] - 'Wellington and Waterloo: "the tale is in every Englishman's mouth"' University of Southampton Library, UK [13 April -19 June and 13-24 July 2015] - 'The Road to Waterloo' and ‘Waterloo Lives' Gordon Highlanders Museum, Aberdeen, Scotland  [03/02/2015 - 28/11/2015] - 'Waterloo' at the Bomann-Museum, Celle, Germany [02/04/2015 - 11/10/2015] - '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 - 27/07/2015] - 'Waterloo 1815 - The Battle for Peace' at Wellington Arch and new display at Apsley House London UK [18/04/2015 - 30/12/2015] - '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, France [15/04/2015 - 11/07/2015] - 'Alexander, Napoleon and Josephine: a story of war, art and friendship' Hermitage, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [28/03/2015 - 08/11/2015]   Re-enactments WATERLOO > WHAT'S ON (updated 3/7/15)    SEEN ON THE WEB (all external links) - archaeology project “Waterloo Uncovered” to be registered as charity - Napoleon wrote the best political memoir What politicians today can learn from the writing of the banished Emperor. - Walter Scott war journalism from the Waterloo battlefield - The mystery of Waterloo's last living soldier - Don't spare the horses: how the Battle of Waterloo became a stage sensation - A Storied Past: The Marquess of Londonderry's Portrait of Napoleon III "WATERLOO" > SEEN ON THE WEB (link to our website, updated 3/7/15)   THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY HOLIDAY OPENING: from Tuesday 7 July to Friday 28 August: Mondays and Tuesday from 1pm to 5pm and Thursday from 10am to 3pm. Closed: Wednesday and Fridays. THE LIBRARY WILL BE CLOSED EXCEPTIONALLY ON MONDAY 6 JULY.   Online database catalogue Digital Library  Contact NAPOLEONICA LES ARCHIVES Site of digitised Napoleonic archival material: The working papers or 'imprimés' of the Napoleonic Conseil d'Etat, the correspondence of Vivant Denon, etc. http://www.napoleonica.org Contact: napoleonica@napoleon.org    NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE International peer-review interdisciplinary e-review on the history of the two Empires, bilingual French-English, 3 issues per year, free access. Read the review on Cairn.info Contact: napoleonicalarevue@napoleon.org    The Fondation Napoléon's Institutional website: www.fondationnapoleon.org ACCOUNT DETAILS To change your email address, unsubscribe, and sign up for the French information bulletin. 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