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A COLLAGE OF TIMES AND PLACES
This week's letter is a collage of times and places. Napoleon on St Helena stands superimposed on the eternally Parisian Hôtel des Invalides, so redolent of Louis XIV and Charles de Gaulle. The articles on both sides centre on the ‘small island', with the French side recounting the act of filial piety and the gesture of ‘entente cordiale' that led to the purchase of Longwood house and the creation of the French domains on St Helena. The English article, on the other hand, brings Admiral Cockburn to the fore. Nicknamed ‘the Shark' by Napoleon and the Longwood entourage, Cockburn (pronounced Coburn) was the first imperial bugbear; indeed, Grand Maréchal Bertrand's memoirs give the impression that Hudson Lowe was expected almost with relief. The Fondation's Digital library brings views of the Empire from Fontainebleau and St Petersburg, and a talk in the UK (Lincoln) highlights the effect of the Napoleonic wars on Iceland! And to cap it all, the Marshal from Nice, Masséna, is a figurehead for, and funder of, Napoleonic research in the USA.
It is true that we are up to our necks in the preparation for Version 4 of napoleon.org, but the Bite-size Bulletin packs a punch, nevertheless!
Enjoy your read on napoleon.org.
Peter Hicks
Director of International Affairs at the Fondation Napoléon
THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
The library will be closed exceptionally all day on Thursday 24 March due to the Symposium “Napoleon and the economy”, being held that day at the Banque de France, Paris.
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EXHIBITION > “NAPOLEON ON ST HELENA: HIS FIGHT FOR HIS STORY”
"If this were a play, it would be by Samuel Beckett, with either death - or the sea - as its horizon".
This is how Vincen Cornu presented his vision of the scenography for this exhibition, which immediately and unanimously won over the curators and organizers. The spaces are organized so that the visitor first discovers the living quarters where the Emperor spent his last years: on one side, the suite of rooms at Longwood House; on the other, the outdoor spaces of the gardens and the sea, the "eternal horizon" of St Helena. These spaces suggest - rather than recreate - the exact spaces inhabited by the Emperor: in the “dining room” the visitor discovers the vestiges of the Imperial etiquette; his “study” provides an opportunity to observe the process of writing the memoirs; and the presence of the bathtub, in which Napoleon tried to alleviate his pain, evokes the atmosphere of sickness. (The actual rooms at Longwood are also reconstituted via a 3D virtual-reality display).
A central place in the second part of the exhibition focuses on Napoleon's death. This is presented in a space whose dimensions make it possible to conjure up the living room and the arrangement of furniture as it would have been in 1821. The sober treatment and the choice of colours aim to offer a moment of meditation whilst avoiding harsh realism.
The last part of the exhibition is dedicated to “the legend”, written, as it was, even before the Emperor's death on St Helena, and concludes with the development of “Helenian” imagery, which shows Napoleon as a martyr on his rock, fallen but victorious, finally claiming, as it were, his own story.* [Image: detail of "Napoleon I on St Helena" by Oscar Rex, © Musée National des Châteaux de Malmaison et Bois-Préau]
*Translation of an extract of the special dossier (external link in French) about the upcoming exhibition recently published by the Musée de l'Armée including illustrations of some elements to be exhibited, as well as interviews with Thierry Lentz (Director of the Fondation Napoléon) and Michel Dancoisne-Martineau (Curator of the French Domains of St Helena and curator of the exhibition).
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ARTICLE OF THE MONTH > NAPOLEON AND SAINT HELENA, 1815-1816
Rear-Admiral Sir George Cockburn was in sole charge of Napoleon from the beginning of his 67-day journey (on board Northumberland) to St Helena commencing in August 1815 and would remain so until the arrival of the new Governor there in April 1816. In this article based on the available diaries and commentaries of the main protagonists, Roger Morriss takes a critical look at all aspects of the Emperor's living conditions as managed by Cockburn and most importantly that of his security. From the start, he observes, “Cockburn was concerned to win the psychological duel for intellectual supremacy which constituted the critical element in physical control”. [image: Portrait of Sir George Cockburn, by John Lucas]
Our article in French this month is LES DOMAINES FRANÇAIS DE SAINTE-HÉLÈNE : L'ACHAT DE LA MAISON DE LONGWOOD ET DU DOMAINE DE LA TOMBE in which Thierry Lentz explains the acquisition by France (during the Second Empire) of Longwood House and the Domain of the Tomb.
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FONDATION NAPOLÉON > NEW ADDITIONS TO THE DIGITAL LIBRARY
> Fontainebleau. Les petits appartements de Napoléon et Joséphine et des princes de la Maison impériale. This book is a veritable photographic inventory (150 plates) of the so-called “petits appartements” (small apartments) of Napoleon I, the Empress at the Chateau de Fontainebleau, introduced by Georges Esparbès, then curator. The book is a testament to the state of these apartments at the beginning of twentieth century, room by room.
> "Le pouvoir napoléonien et ses légitimités” by Charles Durand
This extract of the Annals of the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Aix-Marseille, (1972) is key item for understanding the forms of legitimacy justifying the powers established by Napoleon Bonaparte.
> Correspondence of René Savary during his stay in St. Petersburg in 1807, (published in St Petersburg, 1893, in French with an introduction, notes and index in Russian).
This book is a collection of the correspondance of René Savary, Ambassador to the Tsar, addressed to Napoleon I, to Champagny (Minister of Foreign Affairs), to Rumiantzev (Russian Foreign Minister), and various reports.
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TALK > ICELANDIC PROFESSOR GIVES INSIGHT INTO SIR JOSEPH BANKS'S ROLE IN NAPOLEONIC WARS (28 APRIL)
Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) was a Lincolnshire botanist who not only sailed with Captain Cook on his first voyage of discovery aboard HMS Endeavour, but also led the first British scientific expedition to Iceland in 1772. This free-to-attend public talk at the Wren Library in Lincoln Cathedral, (UK) will be given by a leading Icelandic historian, Anna Agnarsdóttir, from the University of Iceland. She will focus on manuscripts preserved in the British Library which illustrate how in his later life, including in his long-standing role as President of the Royal Society, Banks acted as a powerful protector of the Icelandic people during the Napoleonic period.
160 YEARS AGO > BIRTH OF THE PRINCE IMPERIAL
The first and only child of Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie was born on 16 March 1856. Find out more about the short life of the Prince Imperial, Louis Napoléon (1856-1879), in our close-up. The website of the Route du Prince Impérial commemorates the premature death of the Prince in an ambush on 1 June 1879 in Zululand. A ceremony will take place there in May, during the annual French week.
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MASSENA SOCIETY > NEW RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP AWARDS
There are six doctoral research fellowships available for research on a topic in diplomatic, political, economic, and military history of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras. Winners will receive 1000 dollars plus a further 500 dollars expenses in order to deliver a paper at either the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era or the Society for Military History conference as part of a special Massena Society panel. Proposals must be sent by 7 April 2016. Full details here (external link).
Wishing you an excellent Napoleonic week!
Peter Hicks and Rebecca Young
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN No. 794, 18-24 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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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
- Carrosses à Marmottan, Bibliothèque Marmotton, Paris, FR [23/03/2016 - 30/07/2016] NEW
- 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
- 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
Talk
'Sir Joseph Banks in Iceland and the North Atlantic' (Napoleonic Wars) by Anna Agnarsdóttir, Wren Library at Lincoln Cathedral UK [28/04/2016]
SEEN ON THE WEB
- The Tuileries, phantom palace of Paris
- 17 March 1808 Napoleon I issued three decrees that together were intended to normalize the status of France's Jews
- Satirical map of Europe 1870
- Haussmann's dream will become reality... As part of the re-design of Paris's major roundabouts (Place de la Bastille, Nation…) the central square of the Place d'Italie will soon be enlarged!
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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