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DEAR READERS,
As we already mentioned in previous letters, a new version of the website napoleon.org is under construction as well as a new improved design for our weekly newsletter. So for these next few weeks your devoted team will be kept rather busy in order to bring you in the very near future a new look, new features and finally a smartphone release. We want the best for you! During this particular phase of work, our weekly newsletter may be a little lighter - we have christened it the “Bite-size Bulletin” - but this week, finally, there is still much to read, watch and think "Napoleonic"!
Irène Delage
Head of Documentation and public relations
THE RETURN OF REASONABLE NAPOLEONIC AUCTIONS
As the American billionaire Forbes's Second Empire collection went under the hammer at a Fontainebleau auction house last weekend here in France, an old debate reared its head. On the one hand, when the government turns a blind eye when major artworks are sold off to private collectors, professionals and enthusiasts alike cry out at the loss of national heritage. And on the other, when the public authorities place export bans on certain works, making claims for pre-emption, then collectors and auction houses begin to worry that this will force auctions outside France, which, they say, would ultimately destroy the French market. There are even some who criticise museum curators for only showing an interest in artworks that come onto the market when they receive the auction catalogues.
Whilst all these arguments have a certain validity, surely the fact that the French State shows a certain interest in the matter is by far preferable to total passivity. In any case, Christopher Forbes himself settled the debate by making a gift of fifteen lots (mainly manuscripts) to the French State, after being told that they could not leave the country. And at the auction, hands were raised to pre-empt nearly forty works on behalf of the French nation. Both enthusiasts and observers should therefore welcome the renewed vitality of our cultural institutions. Also worth noting is the fact that, though not disappointing, the results of the Forbes sale were within reasonable bounds. Is it that the Second Empire is less attractive than the First? Or have buyers become more cautious, are they holding back? An interesting case in point is the marriage certificate of Josephine and Napoleon for their religious wedding dated 1 December, 1804, a significant historical document if ever there was one, which went for a mere 32,500 euros on Saturday. In the past, other less important papers have sold for close to half a million. The bankruptcy of the company Aristophil, whose directors are being prosecuted, is probably not unrelated to this salutary clean-up of the market.
In short, a certain equilibrium seems to prevail on all levels. We can almost hear a not-disinterested Madame Mère sighing "Let's hope it lasts".
Pierre Branda
Director of Heritage at the Fondation Napoléon
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PAINTING OF THE MONTH > INTERIOR, [A VIEW OF THE ROOM WHERE NAPOLEON DIED ON 5 MAY 1821 ON ST HELENA]
This print made after a drawing by Louis-Joseph-Narcisse Marchand, the first valet of Napoleon's first valet who accompanied him to St Helena, was made by Jean-François Villain (active in Paris between 1818 and 1852), a man whose career was most unusual: a former cowherd who became a lithographer in Paris. This scene which evoked Napoleon's death was not the only political representation that Villain made: he also represented the July Revolution of 1830 ... then the baptism of Henri d'Artois, (Comte de Chambord and Duc de Bordeaux), pretender to the throne in the 1840s. Villain even became the official lithographer of the Duchesse de Berry, mother of the Comte de Chambord.
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FONDATION NAPOLÉON > CERCLE D'ETUDES
The last talk of the Fondation's Winter season of lectures will be given by Julie Garel-Grislin at 6pm on Wednesday 30 March on the subject “Henri-Joseph Redouté sur les bords du Nil: les carnets d'un dessinateur de l'expédition d'Égypte de Bonaparte” (in collaboration with the Bibliothèque Nationale de France). The sign-up date is 16 March. Full information here in French. [this image: detail from a drawing by Redouté of the Valley of the Kings]
> ONLINE RESOURCES The catalogue of the library of the Fondation Napoléon now gives the possibility to consult any letters sent or received by a member of the Imperial family (First and Second Empire) which have been included in sales at French auction houses since 1994. Just type in the search field (by titlewords or author) the word "Lettre" (in French) and the first name of the person you want to search (for example: Hortense, Prince Imperial, etc.) to display all letters corresponding to that family member, then click on the reference to display the résumé or transcript of the letter.
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THE PONT D'IENA IS SINKING
The Pont d'Iena ordered by Napoleon I (which crosses the Seine between the Eiffel Tower on the Champs de Mars and the Trocadero) is undergoing major renovation as it has been sinking into the Seine over several decades. Over the years it has been enlarged and consolidated but essentially it still rests on the wooden posts (16 metres below the water level) dating from the original construction. A system of metallic belts is being installed temporarily in order to allow consolidation work to be realised. Read more in this article (in French) in le Parisien. [image: a 1900 postcard of the Pont d'Iéna]
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Wishing you an excellent Napoleonic week!
Peter Hicks and Rebecca Young
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN No. 793, 11-17 March 2016
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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napoleon.org - related content:
BOOK OF THE MONTH
- CZUBATY, Jaroslaw, PHILLIPS, Ursula (translator), The Duchy of Warsaw, 1807-1815 a Napoleonic outpost in central Europe (London, 2015)
WHATS ON (see our website for all events)
Exhibitions
- Hubert Robert (1733–1808) A Visionary Painter, Musée du Louvre, Paris, FR [09/03/2016 - 30/05/2016]NEW
- Easy Virtue. Prostitution in French Art, 1850-1910, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, NL [19/02/2016 - 19/06/2016]
- The art of the superfluous, Paris, the decorative arts and fashion, Archives de Paris, FR [08/02/2016 - 03/06/2016]
- Vigée Le Brun: Woman Artist in Revolutionary France, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA [15/02/2016 - 15/05/2016]
Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Painter in Her Majesty's service, Augustinermuseum, Freiburg, Germany[28/11/2015 - 20/03/2016] LAST DAYS
- Quando Roma parlava Francese: Feste e monumenti della prima Repubblica Romana (1798-1799), Museo Napoleonico di Roma, Italy [11/12/2015 - 13/03/2016] LAST DAYS
- Franceschini-Pietri, Napoleon III's secretary Palais Fesch, Ajaccio , Corsica [27/11/2015 - 09/05/2016]
- Ingres, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain [24/11/2015 - 27/03/2016] LAST DAYS
Conferences
- 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]
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. It 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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