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VERTIGO
The exhibition "Napoleon on St Helena. His fight for his story" opened on 6 April. The works, as we have said, are absolutely exceptional: the everyday trappings of the Emperor in exile, most of which have never been seen by the general public, only by the "lucky few" who have managed to visit that remotest of islands, St Helena.
The sober and unostentatious presentation of these simple pieces of furniture, as it were, stripped bare – together with the few vestiges of the splendour of the Empire - allows the power of the historic and legendary objects to emerge. It also allows us to grasp, in a physical way, how the life of a man - who, let us not forget, had made it his purpose to dominate Europe - could be overturned so totally.
As you enter this exhibition you have therefore to hold in your mind the grandeur of the Imperial palaces, their sumptuous decorations and those triumphant entrances into so many conquered capitals, and indeed the sensation of power at the head of the Grande Armée, in order better to understand the collapse, the sensation of vertigo that Napoleon must have felt when confronted with the emptiness of his future existence upon his arrival on the island. By offering this subtle experience, with no special effects, this exhibition is indeed exceptional. It is an emotion that takes hold of you and then lingers.
Irene Delage
Head of Public Relations and Documentation at the Fondation Napoléon
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CEREMONY FOR THE DEATH OF THE EMPEROR > 5 MAY
As every year, a mass in memory of Napoleon I and the soldiers of the Grande Armée will be held at 6.30pm on 5 May, 2016, in the Cathedral of St Louis des Invalides. The ceremony is organised by the military governor of Paris, the governor of Les Invalides, and the imperial family, and will be presided over by HIH Prince Napoleon and is open to the public. The mass will be preceded at 6pm by a laying of wreaths - including that of the Fondation Napoléon - at the tomb of the Emperor in the crypt of the Dome Church adjacent to the Cathedral.
CONCERT > MUSEO NAPOLEONICA, ROME, ITALY
There will be a book presentation followed by a concert on the 5 May in commemoration of the death of the Emperor, starting at 6pm.
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FONDATION NAPOLEON CERCLE D'ETUDES LECTURES
> On Tuesday 3 May at 6pm at the Fondation Napoléon in Paris there will be a talk (in French) by Dorothée Lanno called “Dans l'intimité de la famille de Napoléon: stratégies de mises en scènes de l'image impériale”. To sign up for it, please contact Brigitte Claré from 20 April. More information here (in French).
FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
For the next two weeks (until the end of April), owing to the French school holidays, the Fondation Napoléon Library will be open at slightly more limited times than usual: Mondays and Tuesdays 1pm – 5pm, and Thursdays 10am-3pm.
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EXHIBITION > HIGH SOCIETY: THE PORTRAITS OF FRANZ X. WINTERHALTER (17 APRIL - 14 AUGUST)
This Sunday a new exhibition opens at the Museum of Fine arts in Houston (USA), celebrating the Second Empire portraitist Franz Xaver Winterhalter. He was a favourite of the European nobility including Napoleon III and Eugenie as well as society people. He was celebrated for his ability to capture likenesses and for his superb rendering of textures and fashionable details. His career overlapped with that of the celebrated couturier Charles Frederick Worth (1825–1895) who often dressed the women in Winterhalter's portraits. The exhibition includes about 45 of Winterhalter's magnificent paintings, along with glamorous evening gowns and other couture garments from the period.
A catalogue in English is available and an opening lecture will take place on Sunday 17 April.
To find out more about Worth and his collaboration with Empress Eugenie see our article: Charles Frederick Worth, the Empress Eugenie and the invention of Haute-Couture.
EXHIBITION > FASHION FORWARD, THREE CENTURIES OF FASHION
This exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France (until 14 August, 2016) includes gowns by Charles Worth from the collection of the museum.
Wishing you an excellent Napoleonic week!
Peter Hicks and Rebecca Young
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN No. 798, 15-21 April 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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EVENT > NAPOLÉON À SAINTE-HÉLÈNE. LA CONQUÊTE DE LA MÉMOIRE (Napoleon on St Helena, His fight for his Story), exhibition at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris (France) until 24/07/2016
> Short presentation of the exhibition in English on napoleon.org
> Detailed presentation of the exhibition in French on the website of the Musée de l'Armée
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napoleon.org - related content:
WHATS ON (see our website for all events)
Exhibitions
- High Society: The Portraits of Franz X. Winterhalter, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA [17/04/2016-14/08/2016] NEW
- Fashion forward: three centuries of fashion, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, FR [07/04/2016- 14/08/2016] NEW
- NAPOLÉON À SAINTE-HÉLÈNE. LA CONQUÊTE DE LA MÉMOIRE (Napoleon on St Helena, His fight for his Story), Musée de l'Armée Paris, FR [06/04/2016 - 24/07/2016] NEW
- Napoléon vu par Abel Gance. La séquence corse, Maison Bonaparte, Ajaccio, Corsica [31/03/2016 - 03/07/2016]
- Carrosses à Marmottan, Bibliothèque Marmotton, Paris, FR [23/03/2016 - 30/07/2016]
- Hubert Robert (1733–1808) A Visionary Painter, Musée du Louvre, Paris, FR [09/03/2016 - 30/05/2016]
- 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]
- Franceschini-Pietri, Napoleon III's secretary Palais Fesch, Ajaccio , Corsica [27/11/2015 - 09/05/2016]
Talk
'Sir Joseph Banks in Iceland and the North Atlantic' (Napoleonic Wars) by Anna Agnarsdóttir, Wren Library at Lincoln Cathedral UK [28/04/2016]
Concerts
- Cycle "Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène. A la conquête de la mémoire", Les Invalides, Paris, FR [07/04/2016 - 20/06/2016]
- Ei fu. Concerto per il 5 maggio, Museo Napoleonico, Roma, Italy [5/05/2016]
Theatre
- Joseph Conrad's "I Duellanti", Teatro delle Muse, Ancona, Italy [14-17/4/2016]
SEEN ON THE WEB
- press release by the St Helena government: official opening of St Helena airport
- press release by the St Helena government: the exhibition “Napoleon on St Helena" and governor Mark Capes's visit to France
- Annette Gero's Wartime Quilt Collection (exhibition this weekend only, 14-16 April in Melbourne, AU)
THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
French holiday opening times (until end April):
Mondays and Tuesdays 1pm – 5pm, and Thursdays 10am-3pm.
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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