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THIS MONTH'S PAINTING
The arrival of Marie-Louise in Compiègne, by J.B. Isabey
This painting shows how the arrival of Marie-Louis in France should have taken place, had protocol been respected. The scene is Soissons, the date is 27 March, 1810, and the event is a reception organised by the municipality, during which the presentation of the daughter of the emperor of Austria to the Emperor of the French was to take place. However, giving in to impatience, Napoleon rushed to head off the future empress on the Soissons road.
200 YEARS AGO
On 18 January, 1805, Admiral Villeneuve tried to break out of the port of Toulon with his squadron (11 ships of the line, 7 frigates and 2 brigs) under the watchful gaze of 2 British frigates, but a fierce storm caused great disorder amongst his inexperienced sailors and forced a return to port on 21 January. Villeneuve was particularly frustrated and depressed given that admiral Nelson had mistaken the movement south as a second French attempt on Egypt (a particulcar obsession of Nelson's): indeed Napoleon's disinformation campaign had been a complete success. In fact the plan which Napoleon had thought up in December (in fact, his fourth up to that point) was to send Villeneuve to capture Surinam, passing via the port of Cadiz to pick up reinforcements (hence the southerly direction which duped Nelson) and then to pick up Victor Hugues's men in Cayenne, all in about a fortnight. Villeneuve was then to meet up with rear-admiral Missiessy in Martinique, drop reinforcements off in Santo Domingo and then to return to Europe, all in one month. A little unrealistic perhaps, although Napoleon was accustomed to being able to move his soldiers on land at the galop from one point to another. The fact is, this failed plan not only had physical fall out (several vessels had to have significant repairs performed, putting them completely out of action), there was also the psychological damage caused to Villeneuve and particularly to his men, who now doubted him. The Navy Minister Decrès refused Villeneuve's resulting offer to resign, since he did not think meteorological misfortune constituted a critique of his qualities as an admiral, although he was well aware of the latter's pessimism.
150 YEARS AGO
In 1855, the writer and sub-lieutenant Leon Tolstoy took part in the Crimean War, notably in resistance to the siege of Sebastopol, the city he had reached on 7 November, 1854. He began writing a groups of texts which would be collected under the title The Sebastopol Sketches and published the following year. In the book, the soldiers' daily life and the ferocity of the fighting is graphically recounted, making the collection one of the first example of war reporting.
David McDuff's translation of The Sebastopol Sketches is published by Penguin Classics.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
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THIS WEEK
Snippets
Oil painting of Crimea 'nurse', Mary Seacole, discovered
What's on
- Celebration: A festival of light and magic: Elisa Bonaparte, her palace, her fêtes, Lucca, Italy
- Fair: The 12th International Napoleonic Fair, St Albans, UK
- Exhibition: James Gillray, New York Public Library, US
- Exhibition: Decoration in the Age of Napoleon: Empire Elegance Versus Regency Refinement, New York Public Library, US
- Exhibition: The Treasures of the Fondation Napoléon, Paris, France
The monthly titles
- This month's book: The Legend of Napoleon, by Sudhir Hazareesingh
- This month's painting: The arrival of Marie-Louise in Compiègne, by J.B. Isabey
- This month's article: The music at the coronation of Napoleon and Josephine, by H. K. Peters
- In the Collectors Corner, Revolutionary-period skeleton clock
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