| |
| |
“Louis-Napoleon and Eugenie”
Our website napoleon.org is dedicated to both the First and Second French Empires, despite the unavoidable fact that much more attention and interest is, and always has, been paid to the First French Empire in the collective imagination. Indeed, “Louis-Napoleon and Eugenie” doesn't quite trip off the tongue in the same way as “Napoleon and Josephine”. However, from time to time, we make a point of focusing on the Second French Empire, after all there is still so much to discover about this fascinating period of French History and its players. This week we have a bumper crop of treats relating more specifically to the French Empress, Eugenie. There is a new mini biography of her by Marie de Bruchard on our website, as well as a junior version for our younger readers! Chantal Prévot, the Fondation Napoleon's librarian, has selected for you a fantastic bibliography of more than a hundred digital documents about Eugenie. Most of these are in French, but there are some lovely portraits and prints and, of course (it should not be forgotten) photography, the invention of which really gives a special insight into the Second Empire. There are currently several exhibitions across Europe covering the period: "Prostitution in French Art 1850-1910" opened in Amsterdam this week; the portraits of Winterhalter are in Freiburg until 20 March (see our What's On); the “Art of the Superfluous” is at the Archives de Paris. There is even a new novel set during the Second French Empire… And so, to start with, here is our “Article of the Month” about a lad from Lincolnshire who after a fortuitous introduction to the Empress went on to transform the very concept of fashion throughout Europe: Charles Frederick Worth.
Rebecca Young
Web Editor for napoleon.org/en
|
|
|
| |
ARTICLE OF THE MONTH > CHARLES FREDERICK WORTH, THE EMPRESS EUGENIE AND THE INVENTION OF HAUTE-COUTURE
When Charles Frederick Worth died on 10 March, 1895, The Times wrote in its obituary "The boy from Lincolnshire beat the French in their own acknowledged sphere”. Indeed he set the taste and ordained the fashions of Paris, and from Paris extended his undisputed sway over all the civilised, and a good deal of the uncivilised, world. But as Olivier Courteaux shows in our article of the month, “he had done more than that: With the help of the Empress Eugenie, he had created Haute-Couture”.
Our ARTICLE OF THE MONTH in French > QUAND SAVARY ET FOUCHE FAISAIENT FABRIQUER DE LA FAUSSE MONNAIE (by Thierry Lentz)
|
|
|
| |
NEW BIOGRAPHY > EUGENIE DE GUZMAN PALAFOX Y PORTOCARRERO, EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH (1826-1920)
Find out more about the long life of Eugenie de Guzman Palafox y Portocarrero, born into a Spanish-Scottish family which adored Napoleon I, and who would go on to marry one of the most eligible suitors of her time, the Emperor Napoleon III.
YOUNG HISTORIANS > EMPRESS EUGENIE
Eugenie, the “Empress of the French”, outlived both her only son and her husband, Napoleon III, and lived even longer that Queen Victoria, with whom she was well-acquainted. Her in-laws were not very kind to her, but as you can find out in this biography written especially for our younger readers, the rebellious teenager who claimed she never wanted to get married, grew up into much more than the “ornament of the throne” that her husband expected her to be.
[image: detail of a photograph of Empress Eugenie, by Gustave Le Gray]
|
|
|
| |
NEW DIGITAL BIBLIOGRAPHY > EUGENIE, EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH
As part of its partnership with the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF) the Fondation Napoleon has just put together this new digital bibliography of Eugenie of over a hundred items digitalized on Gallica, selected and organised into sections: Biographies; portraits, marriage to Napoleon III, the birth of the Prince Imperial, Odes and poems; charity work, journeys; the Franco-Prussian war; Exile; her funeral; and pamphlets.
[image: detail from a print of Empress Eugenie visiting the cholera victims, on 23 October 1865].
|
|
|
| |
NEW EXHIBITION > EASY VIRTUE: PROSTITUTION IN FRENCH ART, 1850-1910
This exhibition explores the theme of prostitution as seen through the eyes of 19th-century French Artists. It is a version of the exhibition that took place earlier this year at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, but in which the artist Van Gogh will of course feature more prominently than in Paris since this time the exhibition is happening at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
BOOK > SECOND EMPIRE FICTION
The Queen of the Night is the tale of an operatic soprano who is offered the role of a lifetime only to discover that the libretto is based on a sordid story from her own past. It was written by Alexander Chee, himself once a professional boy soprano. As Chee explains in this interview for Vogue (external link), the 576-page novel devotes much attention to the material culture of the Second Empire and Belle Epoque Paris, the fabulously ornate clothes and jewels that he says doubled as “statecraft, stagecraft, armour, and weapon, a way of doing battle for what you wanted.” Cameo appearances include the Empress Eugenie, Napoleon III and one of his supposed mistresses, the Comtesse de Castiglione.
|
|
|
| |
PERFUME > GUERLAIN, EUGENIE AND THE SECOND EMPIRE.
As this recent article in Paris Match (external link in French) reminds us, on the day of the religious celebration of Eugenie's marriage to Napoleon III at Notre Dame cathedral, she was given a perfume created specially for her by Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain, which he called “Eau de Colgne Imperiale” presented in its own specially-designed “Flacon aux abeilles”. The shape of the perfume bottle (which was adorned with 69 bees, one of the imperial emblems, and hand-gilded with fine gold) was inspired by the Vendôme column (commemorating Napoleon I's victory at Austerlitz) situated close to Guerlain's shop in Rue de la Paix. This generous gift would bring Guerlain himself great fortune in return, because from that day onwards, he became the exclusive perfumer of Her Imperial Majesty.
EXHIBITION > THE ART OF THE SUPERFLUOUS, AN INDISPENSIBLE LUXURY?
In conjunction with its program of talks from Febraury to June 2016, the Archives de Paris presents a selection of prototypes and models of luxurious fashion accesories. These objects and documents, largely unpublished, were donated by the various manufacturers and designers themselves, and give a glimpse of part of the production processes used by Parisian artisans of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Wishing you an excellent Napoleonic week!
Peter Hicks and Rebecca Young
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN No. 791, 26 February, 2016 - 3 March 2016
Interested in the work of the Fondation Napoléon? Why not participate, either generally or towards a specific project, by making a donation?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Follow us on our new English-language Facebook page and on Twitter!
napoleon.org - related content:
JUST PUBLISHED
- CHEE, Alexander, The Queen of the Night (a novel), (Boston, 2016)
WHATS ON (see our website for all events)
Exhibitions
- Easy Virtue. Prostitution in French Art, 1850-1910, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, NL [19/02/2016 - 19/06/2016] NEW
- The art of the superfluous, Paris, the decorative arts and fashion, Archives de Paris, FR [08/02/2016 - 03/06/2016] NEW
- Vigée Le Brun: Woman Artist in Revolutionary France, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA [15/02/2016 - 15/05/2016] NEW
Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Painter in Her Majesty's service, Augustinermuseum, Freiburg, Germany[28/11/2015 - 20/03/2016]
- Quando Roma parlava Francese: Feste e monumenti della prima Repubblica Romana (1798-1799), Museo Napoleonico di Roma, Italy [11/12/2015 - 13/03/2016]
- Franceschini-Pietri, Napoleon III's secretary Palais Fesch, Ajaccio , Corsica [27/11/2015 - 09/05/2016]
- Delacroix et l'antique (Delacroix and Antiquity), Musée Delacroix, Paris, FR [09/12/2015 - 07/03/2016]
- Ingres, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain [24/11/2015 - 27/03/2016]
- Le secret de l'État. Surveiller, protéger, informer. XVIIe-XXe siècle, Archives Nationales, Paris [04/11/2015 - 28/02/2016] LAST DAYS
- Visages de l'effroi : violence et fantastique de David à Delacroix, Musée de la Vie Romantique, Paris, FR [03/11/2015 - 28/02/2016] LAST DAYS
- Napoléon (1769-1821), sa vie à travers les femmes, Tourist Centre of Wool and Fashion, Verviers, Belgium [10/10/2015 - 28/02/2016] LAST DAYS
Conferences
- Consortium on the Revolutionary Era, 1750-1850: Annual Conference, Hilton Convention Center, Louisiana State University-Shreveport, USA [25/02/2016 - 27/02/2016]
- Napoleon and the economy: Money, banking, crises and trade under the First Empire, Banque de France, Paris [23/03/2016 - 24/03/2016] SOLD OUT
Talks
- Victualling Nelson's Navy: Food and Cooking on the High Seas in the Age of the Napoleonic Wars, The Naval Club of Toronto, Ontario CA [15/03/2016]
SEEN ON THE WEB
- 679-page account of Napoleon written by E. Sreedaran in Malayalam, one of the languages of India
- Battle shapes up over site where Napoleon and Saladin fought
- Is Trump Emerson's ‘Man of the World'?
- 5 Epic Breakups
- Napoleon and Josephine tie the knot at n°3 rue d'Antin
THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
Special opening times for the February half-term holidays (between 22 February and 4 March 2016): The library will be open on
Mondays and Tuesdays, 1-5pm
Thursdays 10am-3pm.
Closed on Fridays.
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
ACCOUNT DETAILS
To change your email address, unsubscribe, and sign up for the French information bulletin.
Problems with a link in this letter?
- Check the homepage on: http://www.napoleon.org/en/home.asp
- View back numbers of the bulletin: http://www.napoleon.org/en/space/information_bulletin/archive_lettre.asp
- Contact us: information@napoleon.org
|
|
