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Bulletin - Bulletin  
        
   
      
    THIS MONTH'S PAINTING
Madame R. or Rachel in the role of Camille, by Edouard-Louis Dubufe (1820-1883)
Of all the legendary figures of french theatre, Rachel remains one of the most fascinating. And it was in her debut role of Camille in Corneille's "Horace" which the fashionable Second-Empire portrait painter, Edouard-Louis Dubufe, chose to paint her in 1850.

SPECIAL OFFER TO RECIPIENTS OF THE BULLETIN
In honour of the Bicentenary of the Coronation of Napoleon, the jewelers Odiot delved into its archives and came up with a superb Imperial Eagle, copies of which it is offering for sale made of chased, gilt bronze. Gripping an Olympian thunderbolt in its claws, with its wings deployed, and looking to the left, this eagle is a powerful evocation of the of the sumptuous glory of the Napoleonic epic. The Ateliers d'Odiot were founded in 1690 and were commissioned many times by Napoleon himself, not to mention the imperial family and other dignitaries. This replica is being offered exclusively by Odiot to recipients of the weekly news bulletin with a special
25 % reduction.
 
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO
Jacques Necker died at Coppet on 19 Germinal, An XII (9 April, 1804).
Born in 1732 into a family of British extraction which had settled in Geneva, Jacques Necker began his career in a parisian bank started by a fellow Swiss, Vernet. Successful speculation in the Compagnie des Indes made it possible for him to open his own bank in 1756. With his fortune established, Necker turned to a career in public life, becoming a Minister for Geneva in 1772, publishing the following year a work in praise of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, an essay on political economics based on the life of that emblematic minister. In his second book, Sur la législation du commerce des grains, he criticised the policies of Turgot and laid out his anti-liberal and pragmatic ideas. In 1776, the minnister of state, Maurepas, called into the government in the post of Director General of the Royal Treasury, becoming Director General of Finances the following year. He made his popularity however a higher priority than his good management when he championed the policy of borrowing more rather than taxing higher, and the public debt grew during his tenure. This policy however could not be sustained for very long and in 1778 Necker returned to Turgot's ideas passing tax reforms. Despite taking great care not to touch any existing privileges, he was to cross swords with the parliaments. In a carefully worded defence, he published a Report to the King in which he justified his management and revealed the true extent of court expenses. His opponents did not forgive him and managed to persuade Louis XVI to dismiss him, which occurred on 19 May, 1781. Necker then retired his country estate in Saint-Ouen and continued to hurl criticisms at his successors, Calonne and Loménie de Brienne. Having reached a stalemate, Maurepas felt contrained to recall Necker on 26 August, 1788. Necker's first measures were concerning the control of the circulation of grain (so as to avoid the slightest possibility of shortages) and he also restarted the custom of paying in specie. And so as to establish firmly his popularity, he revoked the Lamoignon project which aimed at reducing the powers of the parliaments, whilst accepting the doubling of the membership of the Third Estate, although he neglected to make any pronouncements as to whether voting was by order or person. At the opening of the Estates General on 5 May, 1789, his inaugural speech was judged by the Third Estate to be lightweight, even though its ultimate advice was that the king should impose common voting upon all three estates. The court however considered that it was his excessive policies which had started the troubles and so called for his removal once again, 11 July, 1789. This brutal news caused a sharp fall at the Stock Exchange and led directly to the taking of the Bastille on 14 July. Necker was recalled two days later but was unable to regain control of the situation. Necker left office for good in the September of 1790 and moved to Coppet, publishing his last book in 1791, On the administration of M. Necker, by himself, a work in which self-criticism in notably absent.
Necker was the father of the woman of letters, Madame de Staël (1766-1817), vigorous opponent of the Empire.

 
On 23 Germinal, An XII (13 April, 1804), Bonaparte called a meeting of his privy council. During the sitting, it was decided to accept the hereditary principal as regulating the regime and the title 'emperor' was chosen. On 6 Germinal (27 March), the Sénat had accepted the motion proposed by Fouché whereby he invited the First Consul "to complete his work by rendering it as immortal as his glory." Furthermore, Royalist conspiracies were pushing the First Consul towards trying to consolidate his power.
 
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, Easter!
 
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor


  
      THIS WEEK:
Snippets
Britons don't know their Napoleonic history

Press Review
Revisionist view of the Russian interpretation of 1812

Just published
The age of Napoleon, by Alistair Horne

What's on
- Exhibition: Jean-Baptiste Wicar: portraits of the Bonaparte family

- Commemoration/Day: Napoleon and the city of Graz
- Exhibition: Napoleon in Coblenz
- Exhibition: The Albums of Napoleon III
- Commemoration: 9th annual commemorative ceremony for the anniversary of the death of the Prince Imperial
- Exhibition: Napoleon and the sea, a dream of Empire, Paris
- Exhibition: Napoleon and the Jouy Cloth

The monthly titles
- This month's book: Wellington's smallest victory: the Duke, the model maker and the secret of Waterloo, by Peter Hofschröer
- This month's painting: Madame R. or Rachel in the role of Camille, by Edouard-Louis Dubufe (1820-1883)
- This month's article: Saint Helena Miscellany, by Thierry Lentz and Peter Hicks
- In the Collectors Corner, Bust of Napoleon I by Jean-Antoine Houdon
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