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THIS MONTH'S OBJECT
The Château de Fontainebleau holds the last remaining leaf from Napoleon's coronation crown, made by Biennais - the leaf was given to the painter by the soon-to-be emperor when it fell off during a fitting. It is currently on loan to the Musée Fesch in Ajaccio where it forms part of the "Napoléon. Le Sacre" exhibition.
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO
29 April, 1854, the birth of Jules-Henri Poincaré, mathematician, physicist, and even occasionally poet, who declared: "a theory is good when it is beautiful." Originally from Nancy, and second cousin of the President of the Republic, Raymond Poincaré, Jules-Henri was admitted to the 'Ecole Normale Supérieure but preferred to go to the Ecole polytechnique. He took the Sorbonne chair of Physics in 1881 and was elected to the Académie des sciences in 1887, at young age of 32. He established several mathematical theories, notably a theory of chaos; he also studied the solar system and the dynamics of tides. He supported (discreetly) Dreyfus, as a scientist for whom moral truth and scientific truth do not overlap, morailty and science both being in themselves separate domains. He was furthermore a philosopher of science (one of his books "science and hypothesis" was published as a paperback) and a novelist. He entered the Académie française in 1908: and it was the renowned Napoleonic historian Frédéric Masson who gave the speech of reception. Poincaré died in Paris on 17 July, 1912.
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO
The art of the holiday home, by N. B...
In a note of 8 Floréal, An XII (28 April, 1804), addressed to Duroc, governor of the Palace, the First Consul gave his orders concerning the make-over for the residence once occupied by Erzherzog Karl in the 1790s near Brussels (then the capital of the Austrian Netherlands):
"I want the house of Prince Charles (Erzherzog Karl), near Brussels, to be bought; and that every repair be made to get it into the best shape. I authorise you to spend up to 500,000 francs for the purchase of the house and of all the necessary surrounding buildings such that my household can be accomodated there. I authorise you to spend the sum of 150,000 francs for the arrangements to be made with the architects, and a sum of 350,000 francs for the fittings: total, one million, which citizen Estève will hold at your disposal.
I want this house to be ready to receive me by the end of July. Of course, all the formal appartments should be arranged as simply as possible, the sum being very modest, except that, another year, it should be furnished using the great Lyons silk makers.
Not included in this sum are the hangings and other large pieces of furniture. Those in Paris and Saint-Cloud should be used and can be sent.
I wish that 20,000 of the 350,000 francs, should be used for the library.
Furthermore, the librarian should ask the Interior Minister for all the books which are currently available in deposit.
General Duroc knows my style of living, this will guide him in the disposition of the rooms. My wife's apartment must be set apart, as it is in Paris and at Saint-Cloud.
My office, my salon and my ministers salon must all be set apart from my wife's apartments.
There are to be three tables.
I want my office to be in the centre of a library and, just like at Saint-Cloud and at Malmaison, on the same level as the garden.
However small the park may be, it should be divided into two: one part for the household, and the other for those who form society there; and if I could possibly have, like at Malmaison, a separate garden adjoining my office - even just a few square yards - that would be most suitable. Signed Bonaparte"
Correspondance, letter n° 7723.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
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THIS WEEK:
Snippets
Bicentenary of the Empire: Partnership between the Louvre and the Fondation Napoléon
Just published
- The Glitter of Gold - France, Bimetallism, and the Emergence of the International Gold Standard, 1848-1873, by Marc Flandreau
- The Amiens Truce: Britain and Bonaparte 1801-1803, John D. Grainger
- The Life of Sir John Moore: 'Not a Drum was Heard', by Roger Day (reviewed by Douglas Allen)
What's on
- Auction: Baldwin's Auction Number 37, London
- Workshop: Fourth Journée of the Northern Italian Delegation of the Souvenir Napoléonien
- Exhibition: Napoleon. The Sacre, at the Musée Fesch, Ajaccio
- Talks: Centro Studi Gioacchino e Napoleone Circolo Culturale L'Agorà - 5 Maggio III
- Exhibition: Jean-Baptiste Wicar: portraits of the Bonaparte family
- Exhibition: Napoleon and the sea, a dream of Empire, Paris
- Exhibition: Napoleon and the Jouy Cloth
The monthly titles
- 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: 'Naval warfare of a new kind during the Napoleonic age - part 1', by Sylvain Pagé
- In the Collectors Corner, leaf from Napoleon's coronation crown
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