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EDITORIAL > A NUMBER: 5490
The Réunion des Musées Nationaux (the organisation which coordinates all the National Museums of France) has just launched a fantastic new website dedicated to art images http://art.rmngp.fr/en which allows you to discover, collect, and share works of art from the French museums! As well as the usual search criteria - authors, periods, museums, techniques - you can even search “colour” according to your taste. And if you try simply searching with the magic word “Napoléon”, you will be almost knocked over by the vertiginous figure of 5490 images available in high definition, a splendid collection from which to construct your own album on the themes of your choice. Technically it is not yet possible to “add to your collection”, but our painting of the month (preserved at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool) is indeed a work to discover, with a particular perspective on Napoleon's exile at St Helena and his ambition to write the story of his reign. In a setting stripped to the bare minimum, Napoleon is at work!
Have a great week!
Irène Delage
Head of Services to the public and documentation at the Fondation Napoléon
HOLIDAY OPENING HOURS > THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
From 19 to 30 October the library will be open as follows:
Monday and Tuesday 1pm-5pm, Thursday 10am-3pm.
FONDATION NAPOLEON CERCLE D'ETUDES LECTURE SERIES
This 22 October is the sign-up date for the talk by Général Robert Bresse “Napoléon, stratège ou tacticien?” which takes place on Thursday 5 November 2015 at 6pm at the Fondation Napoléon in Paris. More information here (in French).
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BICENTENARY OF NAPOLEON'S ARRIVAL AT ST HELENA
This week on 15 October as part of the historic celebrations, the anniversary of the arrival of Northumberland in the port of Jamestown was marked by a ceremony at the empty tomb in the presence of members of the Royal Navy (crew of HMS Lancaster) and an official delegation from France including representatives of the Fondation Napoleon.
The day before (14 October) the official signing took place at the Generals' Wing in Longwood House, of the constitutional contract between the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Government of St. Helena and the Fondation Napoléon, delegating the practical management of the “Domaines Nationaux de Sainte Hélène” for touristic purposes to the new non-profit corporation SAINT HELENA NAPOLEONIC HERITAGE LIMITED. The same day the newly-restored “Generals' Wing” at Longwood House was inaugurated. Why not visit our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter for all the news and photos following the bicentenary celebrations on St Helena?
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ST HELENA > THE BRIARS, THE BALCOMBES AND BETSY
After spending his first night on St Helena (16 October 1815) in a guesthouse in James Town, Napoleon visited on 18 October “the Briars”, home of the Balcombe family, as recounted in the diary of John R Glover secretary to Rear Admiral Cockburn of the Northumberland. Quite charmed by the property and the family, it was decided that while awaiting the necessary work on Longwood House, the Emperor would reside in part of the Balcombe's property. Betsy, the younger of Balcombe's two teenage daughters, having always imagined him as a “huge ogre” very quicky become a close friend of the Emperor during the seven weeks that he spent in her close company. Her later recollections of that time are a joy to read. A recent edition by David Markham is called To befriend an Emperor: Betsy Balcombe's memoirs of Napoleon on St Helena and includes an informative introduction and footnotes.
The original 1844 edition of Recollections of the Emperor Napoleon, during the first three years of his captivity on the island of St. Helena: including the time of his residence at her father's house, "The Briars," by Mrs Abell, Lucia Elizabeth Balcombe, can be read online here. (external link)
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EXHIBITION > FROM WATERLOO TO NEW JERSEY: THE BICENTENNIAL OF KING JOSEPH BONAPARTE'S ESCAPE TO AMERICA
The first significant exhibition of memorabilia relating to Joseph Bonaparte to take place in the United States brings together artworks and objects salvaged from the two homes built by Napoleon's brother Joseph at Point Breeze after he escaped to America following the battle of Waterloo. The exhibition will be open to the public on 17 October from 12am to 5pm at the Silva Gallery of Art at Pennington School in Pennington, N.J. including a symposium from 1.30pm. Opening times are otherwise quite restricted but it is possible to make an appointment (see here for details).
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LAST DAYS... EXHIBITIONS IN AMSTERDAM AND BAVARIA
The upcoming half term holidays could be the ideal moment to see two Napoleonic exhibitions which are to close soon: Alexander, Napoleon and Josephine: a story of war, art and friendship at the Hermitage Amsterdam until 8 November brings together over two hundred artworks, personal possessions, clothes and weapons, including Josephine's own splendid art collection bought by Alexander, telling the story of the First Empire's ambivalent political relationship with Alexander's Russia and the personal links between their respective political heads.
And in Ingolstadt: 'Napoleon und Bayern (until 30 October) is an original exhibition on the Bavarian kingdom's complex relationship with Napoleon, leading to its formation as an independent state in 1815, Works lent from the Fondation Napoléon's collection include an Etruscan Vase for the baptism of the Roi de Rome, and Bonaparte on a dromadary.
Wishing you an excellent Napoleonic week!
Peter Hicks and Rebecca Young
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN No. 774, 16-21 OCTOBER, 2015
Interested in the work of the Fondation Napoléon? Why not participate, either generally or towards 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
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WHAT'S ON (see our website for all events)
Conferences
- Waterloo, 1815: The British Monarchy and the Defeat of Napoleon Windsor, UK [14/11/2015]
Exhibitions
- From Waterloo to New Jersey: The Bicentennial of King Joseph Bonaparte's Escape to America Pennington School in Pennington, N.J. [17/10/2015 - 20/11/2015] NEW
- Belloir et Vazelle, tapissiers décorateurs du Second Empire Jane Roberts Fine Arts, Paris, France [14/10/2015 - 14/11/2015] NEW
- Splendeurs et misères. Images de la prostitution, 1850-1910 (Splendour and Misery. Pictures of Prostitution) Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France [22/09/2015 - 17/01/2016]
- "1815-1818 : Valenciennes à l'heure anglaise" and "Napoléon gravé à l'acide, une coalition de caricatures!" Bibliothèque de Valenciennes, France [16/09/2015 - 18/10/2015] LAST DAYS
- Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842) Grand Palais, Paris, France [23/09/2015 - 11/01/2016]
- Le Bivouac de Napoléon : luxe et ingéniosité en campagne Galerie des Gobelins, Paris [18/09/2015 - 13/12/2015]
- Daniel Maclise: The Waterloo Cartoon Royal Academy of Arts (UK) [02/09/2015 - 03/01/2016]
- Murat, King of Naples, at the charge! Palazzo Reale, Naples, Italy [19/05/2015 - 19/10/2015] LAST DAYS
- Pierre-Paul Prud'hon: Napoleon's Draughtsman Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK [23/06/2015 - 15/11/2015]
- 'Waterloo and the March of Science', Herschel Museum of Astronomy, Bath, UK [18/06/2015 - 13/12/2015]
- '"Victory Sir, Victory!" Henry Percy and the Battle of Waterloo, 1815', Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, UK [18/05/2015 - 30/10/2015] LAST DAYS
- 'The Road to Waterloo' and ‘Waterloo Lives' Gordon Highlanders Museum, Aberdeen, Scotland [03/02/2015 - 28/11/2015]
- 'Napoleon und Bayern' Bayerisches Armeemuseum, Ingolstadt, Germany [30/04/2015 - 30/10/2015] LAST DAYS
- 'Waterloo 1815 - The Battle for Peace' at Wellington Arch and new display at Apsley House London UK [18/04/2015 - 30/12/2015]
'Alexander, Napoleon and Josephine: a story of war, art and friendship' Hermitage, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [28/03/2015 - 08/11/2015]
Commemorations
- Bicentenary of Napoleon's arrival on St Helena [07/10/2015 - 18/10/2015]
SEEN ON THE WEB
- Napoleon's arrival at St. Helena
- letter from Bellerophon including a sketch of Napoleon
- How Napoleon's chair from St Helena ended up in Scotland via India
- Newly found papers shed light on Thomas Manning, who met the Dalai Lama after arriving in Tibet in 1811, then met exiled Napoleon on his way home
- Napoleon's Toothbrush from St Helena
THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
From 19 to 30 October the library will be open as follows: Monday and Tuesday 1pm-5pm, Thursday 10am-3pm.
The library is normally open on Mondays and Tuesdays from 1pm to 6pm and on Thursdays and Fridays from 10am to 3pm. The library is closed on Wednesdays.
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
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