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Bulletin - Bulletin  
        
   
    NATURE MORTE / STILL LIFE
October is coming to an end very soon, and with it, our “St Helena" month will conclude next week.  Our object of the month – which brings with it the idea of conclusion - is a reliquary of St Helena: a composition of organic and mineral objects collected from around Napoleon's tomb on St Helena, by his friends In Memoriam of the Emperor. Mounted inside a frame they resemble a kind of three-dimensional painting in the tradition of the “Still Life” or “Nature Morte” (literally “dead nature”) as the genre is called in French. Very often this genre may also be considered a form of Vanitas
(when ephemeral natural objects are represented or indeed sometimes skulls or bones)  - which function as a momento mori -  a reminder that all earthly life must end, but which nevertheless carries with it the idea that there is another life beyond death.
This reliquary therefore bears implicitly the idea of death, but at the same that of rebirth since its symbolic contents were brought back on the voyage of the “return of the Ashes”* by those very witnesses who were also largely responsible for the revival of the Napoleonic legend and its inscription in history though their transcriptions and publications of the Emperor's dictations of his memoirs and his life's work. We might say that through the work of his disciples, posterity bore the fruit of those “seeds” that Napoleon had planted on St Helena: a rebirth, however not limited by mortality.

*when the mortal remains of Napoleon were returned to France to be reburied triumphantly at the Invalides.

Rebecca Young and Marie de Bruchard
Web Editors for napoleon.org

 
 
 
CERCLE D'ETUDES LECTURE PROGRAMME AT THE FONDATION NAPOLEON
If you'd like to attend the talk by de Jean Tulard  “Le monde selon Napoléon” on Tuesday 10 November 2015 at 6pm, at the Fondation Napoléon in Paris, please sign up from the 30 October.



  
   
OBJECT OF THE MONTH > A RELIQUARY OF ST HELENA
In 1840, when permission was finally given for Napoleon's body to be repatriated to France, the faithful friends and servants who accompanied the body on that final journey home, also brought back mementos - pieces of branch, masonry, fragments of a coffin - souvenirs of the peaceful garden where the Emperor had been laid to rest for 19 years on St Helena. In the context of the Napoleonic legend that had developed ever since the Emperor's death it was hardly surprising then, that these simple objects soon took on an almost sacred connotation, as you can discover in our object of the month, a "reliquary" containing objects assembled by Napoleon's valet and friend, Louis-Joseph Marchand, that is now part of the Fondation Napoléon's collection.
 
Marchand's memoirs were published in 1952 and 1955 (see our article by Chantal Lheureux-Prévot), the second of which covers the period of St Helena. Find out more about the Emperor's friend and valet, in this article by Shannon Selin (external link).

  
   
YOUNG HISTORIANS > NAPOLEON AND ST HELENA
Especially for our younger readers, find out more about Napoleon's final exile in our latest fact file and picture file. And to go further, why not check out the memoirs of Betsy Balcombe, the 14 years-old girl whose house Napoleon stayed in when he arrived on St Helena and who tells many amusing anecdotes about the man she once thought was a monster and who quickly became her best friend. Read the original 1844 edition online here or a more recent edition with notes and introduction: To befriend an Emperor.

 
NAPOLEON'S SERVANTS ON ST HELENA
Among the followers of the exiled Emperor were notably three men in his service: the Archambault brothers, Achilles and Joseph (born Olivier) and the second "Mameluke Ali", alias Louis Etienne Saint-Denis (external links). Expelled in 1816, the youngest of the Archambault brothers joined Joseph Bonaparte in the United States, and both Achilles and Ali stayed on St Helena until the death of the Emperor and also accompanied the repatriation of Napoleon's body, known as the “Return of the Ashes” in 1840.


  
   
FONDATION NAPOLEON'S ONLINE CATALOGUE >JOURNAL OF THE NAPOLEONIC ASSOCIATION
The most iconic items from British Association of re-enactors Newsletters are now referenced in the catalogue of the Fondation Napoléon's library
. They concern uniformology, tactics (eg cavalry movements on the battlefield), or the practice of “bivouacs” (how to make fire with flint stone). You can also find out where to locate the only Martello-type of defensive tower in Ireland or the dangers of military training when a conscript forgets a stick in the gun ("a ramrod injury").  As you might expect, the Iberian Peninsula and Waterloo feature heavily with a few excursions among the Allies.
The list of items (in English, of course) is available in the menu "thème" of the catalogue: Journal of the Napoleonic Association Numbers and dates: 1(1976)-28(1984) and 1(1987)-14(1990).
Then just click on each item to see see the summary. Articles can be sent in digital form upon request.

  
   
EXHIBITION > NAPOLEON (1769-1821), SA VIE A TRAVERS LES FEMMES
Women have without a doubt played an important part in the life of Napoleon, the best known probably being Josephine de Beauharnais who inspired his greatest passion  (pictured here in detail from a portrait by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon). In a new exhibition in Verviers, Belgium, twelve Napoleonic women have been selected to illustrate the life of Napoleon, from his birth in 1769 to his death in 1821. Works of art, paintings and other curious or rare items punctuate a sequence of spaces devoted to women Napoleon's life in chronological order. At the Tourist Centre of Wool and Fashion in Verviers, Belgium until 28 February 2016.


  
   
210 YEARS AGO > THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR
On 21 October, 1805, the allied Franco-Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve was 'annihilated' by the British fleet under Admiral Nelson, who was killed. Find out more in our CLOSE-UP ON THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. Image: detail from "The Death of Nelson Supported by Captain Hardy on the Victory at Battle of Trafalgar" by Daniel Maclise (external link, © Houses of Parliament, UK).

LAST DAYS > EXHIBITION
Victory Sir, Victory! Henry Percy and the Battle of Waterloo, 1815' at Alnwick Castle, traces the story of Major Henry Percy's dash from Waterloo to London, with the news of Victory. With the help of rarely-seen archive material and works of art from the collection of Ralph Percy, the 12th Duke of Northumberland, the race from Waterloo undertaken by the Duke's ancestor, Major Henry Percy, Wellington's aide-de-camp, is told in a special exhibition to commemorate the Bicentenary of the battle.
 
 
Wishing you an excellent Napoleonic week!
 
Peter Hicks and Rebecca Young 
 
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN No. 775, 23-29 OCTOBER, 2015

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JUST PUBLISHED
BOWNAS, Jane L., War, the Hero and the Will: Hardy, Tolstoy and the Napoleonic Wars (Sussex, 2015)

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]
 
Talk
- The Napoleonic Wars and why we should remember them, by Gareth Howell, Abbingdon, UK[6/11/2015]
 
Exhibitions
- Napoléon (1769-1821), sa vie à travers les femmes Tourist Centre of Wool and Fashion, Verviers, Belgium [10/10/2015 - 28/02/2016] NEW
- 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]
- 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]
- 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] 
- 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] LAST DAYS

 
SEEN ON THE WEB
- Remembering the Battle of Trafalgar
- The Battle of Trafalgar – Architecture and Imperialism
- Stained glass window in Ireland commemorates Trafalgar and its lesser-known hero Captain Charles Adair
 

SEEN ON THE WEB > ST HELENA
- How the Observer reported Napoléon's exile to St Helena 200 years ago, on 29 October 1815
- The refurbished Generals' quarters at Longwood officially opened
- Video footage of British Forces (from HMS Lancaster) showing their respects to Napoleon at the empty tomb.
- Ship joins Napoleon celebration

- A monument is unveiled to Napoleon in Plymouth (UK) 
- Plaque marks Napoleon's link with Plymouth
- Ascension Island claimed by the British 200 years ago to prevent Napoleon's escape
- Extracts from letters from an officer of the Marines, H.M.S. Northumberland 5 August 1815



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.
 
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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 

 
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