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THIS MONTH'S BOOK
The Duchess of Richmond's Ball, 15 June, 1815, by David Miller
David Miller's book is a detailed monograph on a famous historical event, the remarkable 'Duchess of Richmond's ball' which took place the night before Waterloo. His wish list of questions in the introduction is admirable: Why did it take place and where? Who actually attended and what happened? Indeed, who were the Duke and Duchess of Richmond?
Read all about it...
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April 2005: grandiose re-enactment of the Battle of Caldiero - despite the rain...
On the weekend of 23/24 April, 2005, more than four hundred re-enactors from all over Europe (not to mention five hundred spectators) witnessed a replay of the Battle of Caldiero, a small town near Verona. It was just like two hundred years earlier - the French in blue and the Italians in green faced off the Austrians dressed in white. On the Sunday morning, a pitched battle was held between French and Austrian troops at the Terme di Giunone (here however, a huge downpour caused many of the onlooker to take cover...). At 12-30pm troops did a file past in the presence of Prince Masséna, trustee of the Fondation Napoléon. And at the end of the day, the troops marched away singing military songs of the period.
Click here for the full story
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SPECIAL DOSSIER: Napoleon crowned king of Italy, 26 May 1805 in Milan
"God gave it me. Beware he who touches it!". Reciting these words - which Charlemagne had pronounced in 774 - Napoléon put on his head the Iron Crown of the Lombard Kings, on 26 May, 1805, in Milan. Consult our Special Dossier including, articles in English and French, images, a timeline and a bibliography. © RMN
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200 YEARS AGO
The whole of Paris society rushed to the studio of the famous painter François Gérard (1770-1837) to admire the portrait he was painting of Madame Récamier, known to her contemporaries as the "belle des belles". "The pose in this painting is on the one hand full of grace and on the other of admirable decency; the face has the imprint of ingenue finesse and pensive gentleness, whose veracity strikes all those who know the original" enthused the Journal de l'Europe dated 11 Prairial (31 May)
This portrait, bought by the Ville de Paris in 1860, today hangs in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris.
150 YEARS AGO
In June 1855, a collection of eighteen of his poems was published by Baudelaire in the Revue des Deux Mondes, under the title Les Fleurs du mal. Founded in 1829, this revue - at the time internationally renowned - published a warning proclaiming its staunch defense of modernity: "in publishing these poems which you are about to read, we hope to show you - once again - how much the spirit which drives is favourable to 'essays', that is 'attempts' in the widest sense of the word. (...)"
Two years later, in June 1857, the poet published a larger collection (more than one hundred texts), again under the generic title of Les fleurs du mal... This time the 'scandal' broke - some of the poems were banned and the Baudelaire was fined.
For some examples of Baudelaire's poems translated, click here
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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THIS WEEK
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
- Mass on the anniversary of the death of the Empress Josephine, 30 May, 2005 at 7pm, in the church of St-Pierre-St-Paul in Rueil-Malmaison.
PRESS REVIEW
- Centre for Napoleonic Studies, Alessandria, Italy, web article 'The Bicentenary of the Battle of Austerlitz'
WHAT'S ON
- Exhibition: Il rifugio di Venere. La Villa Paolina Bonaparte, Viareggio, Italy
- Commemoration: 146th anniversary of the Battle of Magenta, Italy
- Conference: War at Sea in the age of Nelson, The Trafalgar Bicentennial Conference, Christ Church, Oxford, UK
- Commemoration: Annual ceremony of commemoration of the death of the Prince Imperial, South Africa
- Conference: Europe at War: the Trafalgar campaign in context, Senate House, London University, UK
- Conference: The Battle of Trafalgar Conference, at Action Stations, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, UK
- For Napoleonic and Nelsonian 2005 bicentenaries, watch our 2005 bicentenaries page
THE MONTHLY TITLES
- This month's book: David Miller, The Duchess of Richmond's Ball, 15 June, 1815
- This month's painting: Napoleon I, King of Italy, by Andrea Appiani
- This month's article: The empire. Dictatorship? Monarchy?, by Jean Tulard
- In the Collectors Corner, Napoleon Ist as legislator, by Eugène Guillaume
Got a problem with a link in the letter? Try the homepage http://www.napoleon.org
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