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THIS WEEK'S BULLETIN
First we bring you Patricia Tyson Stroud's detailed article on Joseph and his time in Pennsylvania. Then there is another file in our Napoleonic Pages series. Discover the story behind Sir Walter Scott's nine-volume classic, and Gaspard Gourgaud's violent reaction to it. Next we have news of the remarkable sabre sale in Fontainebleau, an exhibition of French and Dutch painting in Corsica and the usual 200 and 150 years ago sections. In the Magazine, there's a new short book on Wellington, news of auctions of Napoleonic and Josephinian autographs, and finally a sumptuous new exhibition in Saint Louis, Missouri, on Napoleon and the symbols of power.
Enjoy.
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THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE
Joseph Bonaparte's American Retreat, by Patricia Tyson Stroud
It was after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815 that Joseph Bonaparte, the ex-king of Naples and of Spain, set sail for exile in the new world, and for a life in which he and his art collection truly became ornaments to society. And in 1816 he was to buy an estate called Point Breeze near Bordentown, New Jersey, twenty-five miles northeast of Philadelphia, where he built a grand house on a promontory overlooking the Delaware River…
© Fondation Napoléon
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NAPOLEONIC PAGES: WALTER SCOTT'S LIFE OF NAPOLEON
The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor of the French. With a Preliminary View of the French Revolution. By the Author of "Waverley", &c., In Nine Volumes, Vol. I [II-IX], (Edinburgh: Cadell, Longman's: London, 1827)
Of all the "historical" biographies of Napoleon, the one most often forgotten but one which played an important part in the creation of the Napoleonic legend was Sir Walter Scott's nine-volume 'Life of Napoleon Buonaparte'.
© Fondation Napoléon
Click here for the full list of our Napoleonic Pages files
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RECORD PRICES OF THE MARENGO SABRE
The Fontainebleau auctioneers OSENAT put Napoleon's Marengo sabre up for sale on 10 June, 2007. This was the sword which the First Consul wore at the battle of Marengo, on 14 June, 1800, and it broke all records going for a massive 4,811,754 euros.
© AFP
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EXHIBITION: CARDINAL FESCH AND THE ART OF HIS TIME: FRAGONARD, MARGUERITE GÉRARD, JACQUES SABLET, LOUIS-LÉOPOLD BOILLY…
From 15 June to 30 September, the Musée Fesch in Ajaccio (Corsica) invites to discover a little-known side to Cardinal Fesch. Not only did the cardinal have one of the world's greatest ever collections of Italian painting, he was also attracted to French and Dutch genre painting…
© Musée Fesch, Ajaccio
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200 YEARS AGO
Polish Campaign
The town of Königsberg capitulated on 16 June, 1807, before Soult. Napoleon wrote to Josephine: “Königsberg is mine. I found a great number of cannon there, as well as large amounts of stores, and finally more than 160,000 guns from Britain.”
(Correspondance n° 12760, Friedland, 16 June, 1807)
“On 17 June, Napoleon moved his headquarters to the metairie at Druscken, near Klein-Schirrau; on 18 June, he took his headquarters to Skaisgirren; on 19, at two in the afternoon he entered Tilsit.”
(80th Bulletin de la Grande Armée, Tilsit, 19 June, 1807)
A Franco-Russian armistice was signed on 21 June, 1807. The day before, Napoleon wrote to Talleyrand regarding his plans: “This evening I think that I shall have an armistice which will take the towpath of the Niemen as its limit, and the condition will be the surrender of the fortresses at Graudenz, Kolberg and Pillau.” (Correspondance n° 12872, Tilsit, 20 June, 1807)
150 YEARS AGO
On 14 June, 1857, the comte de Morny put his signature on a new treaty of commerce and navigation between France and Russia. The document replaced that agreed in 1846 and was an attempt to develop relations between the two countries. Surtaxes in Russia on French goods (notably those from Marseilles and other Mediterranean ports) were to be abolished. In return, French citizens would be able to buy property in Russia but without losing their status as foreigners and thus remain subject to French and not Russian taxation.
(Moniteur Universel, 20 June, 1857)
On 15 June, 1857, an exhibition of contemporary artists opened at the Palais de l'Industrie. (Almanach Napoléon, 1858). The Moniteur Universel, dated 19 June, 1857, gave a description of the exhibition: “A broad staircase lined with busts and statues leads visitors to the rectangular salons – they are arranged in a line, so you cross each one to get to the next. The salon d'honneur contains not only works of capital importance but also a certain number of large canvasses which first attract viewers' attention. These include portraits of the Emperor and of the Empress, a view of the Crimean War, a painting of the Congress of Paris, and scenes from the recent floods [notably The emperor visiting the flood victims in Tarascon (June 1856) by W. Bouguereau] …”
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, Week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 420, 15 - 21, 2007
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© 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 in the MAGAZINE
Snippets
- Record price for Marengo Sabre
- Napoleon's and Josephine's letters up for sale
Just published
HAYTHORNTHWAITE Philip J., Wellington: The Iron Duke
WHAT'S ON
Theatre:
- The Imperial Epic by Caran d'Ache, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Auction
- Christie's King Street, sale 7411: Napoleon and Josephine autographs from the Albin Schram collection, London, UK
Exhibitions:
- Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815, Saint Louis, MO, USA
- Cardinal Fesch and the art of his time: Fragonard, Marguerite Gérard, Jacques Sablet, Louis-Léopold Boilly…, Ajaccio, Corsica
- The Polish and the Légion d'honneur, Paris, France
- People, portraits, places and the abolition of the Slave trade, National Portrait gallery, London, UK
- Napoleon's Description de L'Egypte, Dallas, Texas, USA
- Napoleon, Trikolore und Kaiseradler über Rhein und Weser, Wesel and Minden, Germany
- "The trace of the eagle", the Invalides dome, Paris, France
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