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THIS MONTH'S PAINTING
The Empress Eugénie surrounded by her ladies in waiting, by Winterhalter
In celebration of the bicentenary of the birth of the artist Winterhalter and on the occasion of the re-eopening to the public of the recently restored Winterhalter galleries in the Château de Compiègne, we bring you the celebrated group portrait of the Eugénie and her ladies in waiting. Taking its inspiration from 18th-century bucolic scenes, this monumental work portrays the sovereign and her entourage, but the composition is very artifical and formal.
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THE PARKS AROUND THE CHATEAU DE COMPIEGNE
In June 2004, the park around the château de Compiègne was awarded the title "outstanding garden" ("jardin remarquable"), a title granted to gardens of great historical or botanical interest. Lay out as an English Garden, the parks around the Château de Compiègne has both historical and aesthetic qualities, nemaly, the famous perspective seen down the « allée des Beaux-Monts », commissioned by Napoleon I for the Empress Marie-Louise on the occasion of their marriage. The placing of the garden statuary was begun during the First Empire : the two first statues were erected in 1811 under the direction of Louis-Martin Berthault (1771-1823). Completed in 1859, the ensemble was marked yet further by the Second Empire eclectic style. Park open 1/03-15/04, 8am to 6pm; 16/04-15/09, 8am to 7pm.
For further details, why not take our virtual tour of Compiègne!
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THE VENDOME COLUMN: THE END OF THE STORY...
If only it were true !
This, our April Fool of last week, was suggested by Jacques Macé (author of the Dictionnaire historique de Sainte-Hélène), who thus wished to pay homage to Gustave Courbet, distant relation of his via his wife. Courbet as President of the Commission des Arts du gouvernement de Défense nationale did indeed propose in 1870 that the column should be moved to the Invalides.
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NELSON AND NAPOLEON EXHIBITION
Internet reservations now open for the exhibition "Nelson and Napoleon", to be held in at London's National Maritime Museum, 7 July to 13 November, 2005. The first exhibition to explore together the live of the two adversaries!
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ADVANCE NOTICE
The Fondation Napoléon is to be one of the principal partners of the exhibition, "Napoleon on Campaign", to be held at the top of the Arc de Triomphe in Place Charles de Gaulle, Paris, from 15 June to 31 December, 2005.
The second volume of our grand project to bring out the complete correspondance of Napoleon (Correspondance générale de Napoleon), published by Fondation Napoléon with Editions Fayard, will be be in bookshops from 20 April. It contains 2,550 lettres signed by general Bonaparte from 1 January, 1798 to 31 December, 1799, in other words, the letters concerning the Egyptian campaign and the beginning of the Consulate. This volume will be available at the modest price of 48 Euros.
The acts of the conference "Regards sur la politique européenne de Napoléon", organised jointly by the direction of the French Foreign Office Archives and the Fondation Napoléon, of last November, will be in bookshops at the beginning of June. The contents include the compelte texts of the 29 talks given on that occasion. The acts are published by Editions Fayard.
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200 YEARS AGO
The Gazette de France of 22 Germinal announced that the auction on 19 Germinal (9 April) of the famous rope ladder with which Latude escaped from the Bastille. He had made the ladder with the threads from his shirt and the remains of a chair.
Adventurer and self-confessed teller of tall tales, Henri Masers de Latude (1725-1805) was imprisoned (in both the Bastille and at Vincennes, to mention but two of his prisons) from 1749 to 1784 as a result of a failed attempt to assassinate Madame de Pompadour using a boobytrapped parcel which he sent and also announced that he had done so for reasons of greater publicity. His long captivity became after the Revolution the symbol of arbitrary nature of royal power. The "authentic" memoirs of Latude, written by him when in the prisons at Vincennes and at Charenton, were published in 1795. These Mémoires authentiques de Latude can be downloaded from the website Gallica of the BNF.
This rope ladder is today preserved in the Musée Carnavalet.
On 21 Germinal, An XIII (11 April, 1805), Napoléon mentioned to the Navy Minister, vice-amiral Decrès, his concern regarding the wear and tear suffered by the French Fleet: "The Toulon squadron has gone. Give order that the vessel, the 74-gun Frère de Pluton, be completed as soon as possible. Hannibal is an old ship; if it has to be refitted and this is to cost more than 200,000 francs, it should be calked elsewhere and sent to protect communications between Marseilles and Corsica, but without exposing it to the winter weather. Perhaps the same should be done for Uranie. We are losing a great deal of money piecing together old boats when we could be making new vessels with this material. Furthermore, it is not unreasonable, in our position, to have a certain number of ships and frigates in our different ports, which could be destined for summer campaigns and for coastal defence. Nevertheless, please make sure that you organise immediately in Toulon a force such that 3 or 4 frigates do not block the whole of our coastline."
Letter n° 8567.
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Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
Interested in the work of the Fondation Napoléon? Why not participate, either generally or in a specific project, by making a donation.
© this Napoleon.org weekly bulletin is published by the Fondation Napoléon. Reproduction or all or part of this bulletin is forbidden, without prior agreement of the Fondation Napoléon.
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Just published
- The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, by Lauren Willig
- Die Königlich Sächsichen Mitglieder der Ehrenlegion (1807-1813) [The Saxons who received the Légion d'honneur (1807-1813), in German], by Reiner Wächtler
- Chursachsen und die Annerkennung des Republik Frankreich [The Electorate of Saxony and the recognition of the French Republic, in German], by Reiner Wächtler
What's on
- For Napoleonic and Nelsonian 2005 bicentenaries, check out our 2005 bicentenaries page
The monthly titles
- This month's book: Nelson – The New Letters, edited by Colin White
- This month's painting: The Empress Eugénie surrounded by her ladies in Waiting, by Winterhalter
- This month's article: Napoleon and Charlemagne, by Thierry Lentz
- In the Collectors Corner, 'Nécessaire' belonging to the Duchesse d'Otrante
Got a problem with a link in the letter? Try the homepage http://www.napoleon.org
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