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Please accept our humblest apologies.
FOR US, HISTORY (WHETHER OF NAPOLEON, FRANCE, EUROPE OR THE WORLD) IS, AND ALWAYS WILL BE, CORE CURRICULUM
The prize giving ceremony for the History Prizes took place two days ago in the splendid surroundings of the Hôtel de Beauharnais in Paris, today the residence of the German ambassador, His Excellency Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut. The full details are here below.
This event traditionally marks the end of the Fondation Napoléon's year and during it, equally traditionally, I lay out our projects for the coming year. Though I have done this, I must confess that, whilst my heart may have been in it, my thoughts were nevertheless elsewhere.
2015 began and ended appallingly, with Islamist terrorist attacks in January and November. On the 9th of December, despite our delight in hosting and honouring our worthy prize winners, the thoughts of all were turned towards the victims and surviving relatives of these hateful crimes.
For months now, we have all been asking ourselves what we can do, for our country, for our homeland, in the struggle against these murderers, both here and elsewhere. The fight we now know will be “to the death”, against the killers, those who send them, and the ideas that motivate them. The men and women of the Fondation Napoléon, in their place and of course by no means overestimating their power to act, strongly feel the same.
Above and beyond our role as citizens and in addition to our individual engagement in this struggle, we wanted to give a strong sign of our collective will to participate vigilantly in the counter-offensive that France owes to her dead and to those who survive. We intend to double our efforts to pursue the mission entrusted to us in our founding statutes, namely: to tell our history and to explain where the majority of our roots lie.
Nothing can be done, we are convinced, without the revision, reorganisation and re-centering of the one thing which should be the priority of all priorities, in other words - and not just in a promised but never achieved long term, but now, today! - schooling, schooling for every age, schooling for all citizens, in the methodical and ordered learning of the very foundations of our nations. Because when we talk about the foundations of a country, history has pride of place.
Between January and November in France, we sadly realised that this priority was not shared by those who draw up the national school curriculum. Behind the scenes, we fought the first draught which emerged from the disconnected brains of the “Comité national des programmes”, which placed, and still largely places, French history amongst the list of options and not as core curriculum. We have not been impressed by the weak replies and false promises which followed the debate in May and June.
For this reason, we declare here that French history and Napoleonic history is core curriculum, it will never be optional. And in this light we will work ever harder to broaden our reach, bringing to you, both young and old, this history which has never been more relevant.
Victor-André Masséna, Prince d'Essling
President of the Fondation Napoléon
DID YOU MISS LAST WEEK'S BULLETIN?
Due to some problems we had with our server, some of you may not have received last week's newsletter. You can find it - as well as all of our previous bulletins - in our online archive on napoleon.org
FRENCH ORDER OF MERIT FOR LUIGI MASCILLI MIGLIORINI
Luigi Mascilli Migliorini, professor of modern history at the "Istituto universitario orientale" in Naples, was made “chevalier des arts et des lettres” last Monday at the Hotel des Invalides, Paris. The French honorary distinction recognizes significant contributions to the arts or literature or in the propagation of these fields in France or elsewhere in the world. In 2002, Migliorini, a specialist in history of European culture from the Napoleonic era to Romantism was awarded the Fondation Napoléon's History Prize for a book in a language other than French for his 2002 biography, Napoleone.
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FONDATION NAPOLÉON 2015 HISTORY PRIZE-GIVING CEREMONY
This year's History Prize and Research grant winners were presented with their awards at a prestigious ceremony on 9 December at the Hôtel Beauharnais, once home of Eugène de Beauharnais (given to him by Napoleon I) and now the residence of the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut.
Have a look at some photos of the event in our Facebook album.
FONDATION NAPOLEON AND ITS LIBRARY > CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR OPENING TIMES
The Fondation Napoléon will close at midday on 24 December, 2015, and open again on 4 January, 2016. Please note that the Bibliothèque M. Lapeyre Library will be open on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 December (from 1-6pm), followed by a week's holiday. It will be open again with the usual opening hours from 4 January 2016.
FONDATION NAPOLÉON CERCLE D'ÉTUDES LECTURES > WINTER PROGRAM 2016
The winter session of the Fondation Napoléon lecture series starts on the 12 January with Philip Mansel's talk about “Louis XVIII, roi de France et roi de l'Europe” (5 January is the sign-up date if you'd like to attend).
Here is the complete list of events (in French) which all take place at the Fondation Napoléon in Paris.
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PAINTING OF THE MONTH > OSSIAN'S DREAM (LE SONGE D'OSSIAN), BY JEAN AUGUSTE DOMINIQUE INGRES
This painting which Napoleon commissioned from Ingres in 1811 depicts an imagined scene from the life of the third-century Scottish poet, Ossian, whom Napoleon greatly admired. It was to be part of the redecoration of the Quirinal palace in Rome, the future residence of his young King of Rome. Napoleon never actually saw the finished work, and Ingres eventually retrieved the much damaged work in 1835. It can be seen until 28 February together with other Ossian-themed works as part of the exhibition Visages de l'effroi: violence et fantastique de David à Delacroix at the Musée de la Vie Romantique, in Paris.
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EXHIBITION > "INGRES" AT THE MUSEO NACIONAL DEL PRADO, SPAIN
In collaboration with the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Prado Museum in Madrid will host the first monographic exhibition of the French painter Ingres in Spain, until the 27 March 2016. As well as his famous portraits and “Orientalist” works such as the Grande Odalisque, this survey of Ingres' work also includes a focus on his interest in the genre of history painting, represented by works painted in Rome in which the artist measured himself against the power of the myths of Greco-Roman literature and of Homer and Virgil, as in Virgil reading the Aeneid (loaned from Brussels) and the Studies for “The Apotheosis of Homer”. See also our Painting of the month (above) concerning his brief detour into Scottish history via the poems of Ossian… Here is a video of Ingres's “Napoleon on his Imperial Throne” loaned from the Musée de l'armée in Paris (pictured here) as it was being installed in the Prado exhibition a couple of weeks ago. Find out more about this famous Imperial portrait in this interesting analysis by Bryan Zygmont (external link).
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TOLSTOY > WAR AND PEACE
This week Tolstoy's War and Peace was in the news, as a 60-hour marathon reading of the epic tale was held in various locations accross Russia. The 1,300 participants included the French actress Fanny Ardant reading some of the many passages in French and some of Tolstoy's descendants who read at the family estate south of Moscow and cosmonaut Sergei Volkov via a recorded message from the International Space Station.
Andrew Davies's long–awaited BBC adaptation of the novel has come under criticism for some “artistic licence” in the interpretation on some of the scenes. The new serial of the 1,300-page tome, will be aired in the New Year on the BBC in 6 episodes, reports The Telegraph (external links).
PODCAST > In War and Peace Tolstoy gave his account of Napoleon's great invasion of Russia, the battle of Borodino, and the subsequent burning of Moscow. Rosamund Bartlett, translator of Russian novels and biographer of Tolstoy investigates the truth and the fiction of one of the most famous novels of all time, in this BBC podcast first broadcast on the 200th anniversary of that invasion: “Tolstoy and Napoleon” (external link).
(image detail from "Napoleon's retreat from Moscow" by Adolf Northern, 1828–1876).
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LAST DAYS > 'WATERLOO AND THE MARCH OF SCIENCE', HERSCHEL MUSEUM OF ASTRONOMY, BATH, UK (until Sunday 13th December)
Astronomer William Herschel visited Napoleon and the Empress Josephine in Paris during the fragile Peace of Amiens in 1801. This exhibition examines the impact of the Napoleonic Wars at a local level and questions how science and technology responded to the culmination of nearly two decades of war with France. On display at the Herschel Museum are engravings and cartoons relating to the battle as well as some interesting objects, including a copy of the Bath Chronicle dating to June 1815 when news was beginning to trickle through about the defeat of Napoleon.
Wishing you an excellent Napoleonic week!
Peter Hicks and Rebecca Young (with Tiara Ataii)
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN No. 782, 11-17 December, 2015
Interested in the work of the Fondation Napoléon? Why not participate, either generally or towards a specific project, by making a donation?
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WHATS ON (see our website for all events)
JUST PUBLISHED
Exhibitions
- Ingres, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain [24/11/2015 - 27/03/2016] NEW
- Land of conquest and mystery: Napoleonic Egypt in Bologna, Civic Museum of the Risorgimento in Bologna, Italy [28/11/2015 - 16/01/2016] NEW
- Da Castelfiorentino a Waterloo, Castelfiorentino, Firenze, Italy [28/11/2015 - 13/12/2015] LAST DAYS
- Le secret de l'État. Surveiller, protéger, informer. XVIIe-XXe siècle, Archives Nationales, Paris [04/11/2015 - 28/02/2016]
- Visages de l'effroi : violence et fantastique de David à Delacroix, Musée de la Vie Romantique, Paris, FR [03/11/2015 - 28/02/2016]
- Sir Hussey Vivian, From Waterloo to Westminster, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, UK [13/06/2015 - 02/01/2016]
- Napoléon (1769-1821), sa vie à travers les femmes, Tourist Centre of Wool and Fashion, Verviers, Belgium [10/10/2015 - 28/02/2016]
- 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] LAST DAYS
- Daniel Maclise: The Waterloo Cartoon, Royal Academy of Arts, UK [02/09/2015 - 03/01/2016]
- 'Waterloo and the March of Science', Herschel Museum of Astronomy, Bath, UK [18/06/2015 - 13/12/2015] 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]
SEEN ON THE WEB
- Prado Museum hosts 1st monographic exhibit in Spain on the work of Ingres
- Slavkov battle re-enactment [210 anniversary of the Battle of Austerlitz] attracts some 18,000 viewers
- One of Suffolk's Martello Towers to open its doors to the public for the first time
- Search for 'holy grail' of collections Frenchman Nicolas Baudin's expedition to Australia in 1801
THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
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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