| |
|
|
|
|
| |
THIS MONTH'S PAINTING
The Colossus, by Goya
Goya began this enigmatic work in 1808 just as the Peninsular war was beginning. A giant marching, a people in flight, the image of a country descending into chaos.
NAPOLEON'S MALMAISON DESK TO REMAIN IN FRANCE
The Consultative commission for French National Treasures has classed as 'listed' the flat, teak and ebony Louis XVI desk, attributed to Jean-Henri Riesener, which Napoleon used at Malmaison. The decision by the Commission thus makes it impossible for this important piece to be exported from France; and everyone naturally hopes that it will return to its place of origin.
THE FONDATION NAPOLEON GRANDS PRIX: THE RESULTS, 25 NOVEMBER
The results of the annual Fondation Napoléon Grands Prix and Research Grants will be announced on 25 November at the usual lunch at the Jockey Club. Four prizes will be awarded: First Empire, Second Empire, book in a language other than French and a fourth prize which may be given for a work of fiction. Six research grants will be awarded to doctoral students. As is the custom, the winners will be announced first to readers of the weekly bulletin.
NAPOLEON IN BRAZIL: A GREAT SUCCESS
The Napoléon/Napoleao exhibition in Sao Paulo closed on 2 November. In just two months, this event, for which the Fondation Napoléon played the role of commissioners of the exhibition, received nearly 170,000 visitors (169,883 to be precise). In other words, the event was a huge success. Next 'outing' for the Fondation's collection: Paris, at the Musée Jacquemart-André, from September, 2004.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Paris Museum for the History of Medicine (Musée d'histoire de la médecine) possesses the medical instruments which belonged to Doctor Antommarchi and which he used for the autopsy of Napoléon on St Helena. Amongst the many extraordinary (and occasionally terrifying) objects is a wooden anatomical mannequin made up of 3000 parts, which Bonaparte had ordered from the Florentine, Fontana, in 1796, for the 'Ecole de santé'.
Musée d'histoire de la médecine
Université René Descartes
12 rue de l'Ecole de Médecine
75006 Paris (metro: Odéon station)
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO
The formal uniform for a Professor at the Ecole de Santé (Medical School) was fixed by a decree dated 20 Brumaire, An XII (12 November, 1803): "Formal dress (grand costume) will be worn for examinations, for thesis vivas, during oath swearing ceremonies and reports to tribunals, and for all public events and ceremonies".
A decree of 14 Frimaire, An III (4 December, 1794) was the founding act for the Paris, Strasbourg and Montpellier Medical Schools (Ecoles de santé), in which both medcine and suirgery were taught.
According to a regulation which remained in force until 1822, pupils were put in three classes. Those in the first year had lectures in anatomy, physiology, chemistry, natural history, physics and osteology. There were also sessions in practical anatomy where students gained experience with the technology. In additional to traditional anatomy lectures, second year students were given training in operating theatre techniques, whilst third year pupils were given work experience in hospitals around Paris.
The 'Ecole de santé', descended from the Revolutionary 'Ecole de médecine', was made into a faculty by a decree of 17 March, 1808.
19 Ventôse, An XI (10 March, 1803), Fourcroy's 'foundation' medical law, passed by the Corps législatif, and which is still in force today in France, laid down that no one could operate as a doctor without having been trained as a doctor.
21 Brumaire, An XII (13 November, 1803), the Gazette Nationale announced, in a very low key fashion, the marriage of Napoleon's sister, Pauline:
"Madame Leclerc married the Prince Borghèse. The marriage was celebrated at Mortefontaine."
Pauline was the widow of General Leclerc, who had died of yellow fever in Santo Domingo, 2 November, 1802.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
|
|
|
|
|
|
THIS WEEK:
Snippets
Paintings of the Napoleonic period discovered in Friuli, Italy
Press review
The Napoleonic Alliance's Gazette
What's on
- Re-enactment: Austerlitz 2003
- Conference: Napoleon in British Eyes
- Conference: Joint Annual Conference - Napoleonic Society of America / Napoleonic Alliance
- Exhibition: Art booty in the Napoleonic period. The "French gift" to Mainz, 1803
Websites
- Napoleonic satires
Go to the Napoleonic Directory, and select 'Databases' in the websites scrollbar menu
- Napoleonic cartography
Go to the Napoleonic Directory, and select 'Militaria' in the websites scrollbar menu
- The Herder Institute
Go to the Napoleonic Directory, and select 'Databases' in the websites scrollbar menu
The monthly titles
- This month's book: Journal de Voyage du Général Desaix: Suisse et Italie (1797), by Louis-Charles-Antoine des Aix
- This month's painting: The Colossus, by Goya
- This month's article: The History of Lord Seaton's Regiment, (The 52nd Light Infantry) at the Battle of Waterloo, Chapter Three, by William Leake
- In the Collectors Corner, a Mamluk's harness
<<
|
|
