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EDITORIAL: MASTERPIECE
Only a few weeks before the bicentenary of the birth of Napoleon III, Editions Tallandier have published a superlative biography of the Second Emperor by Eric Anceau. This is a book which will stand for many years to come and I strongly recommend it to you, both those already interested in Napoleon III and those who would like to discover the man. Some books are not to be missed, and this is one.
And while I'm on the subject of Napoleon III, I would like to mention the success of the new magazine Napoléon III, first published in January and of which volume two is on the press. It is selling well and looks like it will go the distance.
Finally I would like to mention that it is now possible to download the registrations forms for the conference «Napoleon III, man and politician», to be held on 19 and 20 may 2008.
Eric Anceau will be taking part, along with other specialists.
An excellent Napoleonic week to you all.
Thierry Lentz
THIS WEEK IN THE BULLETIN
This week we bring you THE book on Napoleon III (in French). Then there's news of the upcoming international commemorative conference organised by the Fondation Napoléon on “Napoleon III, man and politician”. After that there's news of a previously unknown work by the great David, on view in Kassel as part of the bicentennial exhibition on Jerome as king of Westphalia. In “200 years ago” we see Napoleon threatening Pius VII and then prudently making money on civil engineering projects. In “150 years ago“ there's Queen Victoria's gift of a cannon to Napoleon III (a proto-entente cordiale – long before the “entente formidable” of recent days…). In the Magazine, the hunt is on for the medal Napoleon awarded Sir Humphrey Davy, and there are five recent publications.
Enjoy.
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THIS MONTH'S BOOK
Napoléon III. Un Saint-Simon à cheval (Napoleon III, a Saintsimonian on horse back), Eric Anceau, Tallandier, 2008.
This new biography of Napoleon III is the product of more than fifteen years of research. It uses a great many sources which have been previously overlooked and gives a detailed picture of this democrat/autocrat, this authoritarian liberal, this progressive reactionary, this son of the church but child of the Revolution. This is a magisterial portrait which will mark the historiography of the Second Empire for many years to come.
© Tallandier
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FONDATION NEWS: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE BICENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF NAPOLEON III
A conference entitled “Napoleon III, man and politician” and organised by the Napoleon Foundation in commemoration of the bicentenary of the birth of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte – the future Napoleon III – is to take place on 19 and 20 May, at the Collège de France. The president of honour is HIH the Princess Napoléon and the academic president is Pierre Milza, and the participants include some of the best specialists on Napoleon III today.
The complete program is available here. The inscription details can be downloaded here.
(c) Fondation Napoléon
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NAPOLEON IN KASSEL
- A unknown portrait of Napoleon in Kassel, Germany
An unfinished portrait of Napoleon hidden in the store of the museum in Kassel has just been attributed to the great French painter, Jacques-Louis David. It matches the description of an unfinished painting of the Emperor presented by the painter at the Paris Salon of 1808. On this unsigned portrait, Napoleon is wearing his coronation robes. The painting is thought to be a preparatory work, used by the painter to make a larger more detailed composition. It is currently on show at the Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel as the principle work in the exhibition, “König Lustik!? Jérôme Bonaparte and the Model State: the Kingdom of Westphalia”.
Exhibition: "König Lustik!? Jérôme Bonaparte and the Model State: the Kingdom of Westphalia”. This exhibition, which runs from 19 March to 29 June, 2008, is an evocation of one of the most vibrant chapters in the history of the city of Kassel and the state of Hessia. It depicts the positive, but also the dark sides of a young ruler and his reform-oriented state at the brink of the modern age.
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200 YEARS AGO
Kingdom of Italy
At the same time as leading the annexation of Spain, Napoleon was pursuing his campaign to bring Pius VII and the Holy See into line with the Continental System and the Empire. The aim was to take control of the Papal States around Rome, thus creating a strong strategic line linking Milan, Rome and Naples and hampering British and Austrian influence in the Italian peninsula. French troops had already entered the Eternal city in March 1808, but even when he was effectively prisoner in his palace in Rome, Pius continued to refuse to bow to military pressure. The Emperor then prepared a (secret) decree (dated 2 April, 1808), that Urbino, Ancona, Macerata and Camerino (two of the Papal States) were ‘irrevocably' part of ‘my kingdom in Italy and that the Code Napoléon would thereafter be applicable in those territories'. Execution was however stayed and the Pope however was granted a last chance to negotiate before the decree was enacted. On 7 April, a French Chargé d'affaires, Pierre-Edouard Lefebvre offered the Vatican Secretary of State, Gabrielli, a chance for the Holy See to join a sort of Italian Confederation (under French suzerainty). On 20 April, this approach was refused. On 30 April the decree was published and French troops annexed the territories on 11 May, 1808. Though Napoleon had won the battle, the war with Pius VII however was not over…
Napoleon investor
On 21 March, 1808, Napoleon I wrote to Interior Minister Crétet, detailing plans to raise money by selling canals. In the last paragraph of the letter, he also floated the idea of building a bridge (also for financial gain) across Seine opposite the Invalides, the site of the later Pont Alexandre III:
"I want to know how the money destined for buildings in Paris is being spent. I want to spend the money such that I make a profit from the transactions. […] Amongst the different building projects in Paris, I want to have a bridge built opposite the Hôtel des invalides, since this would in no way disrupt navigation on the river. A bridge like the Pont des Arts would cost between 6 to 700 000 francs and would give a good return on the investment; and when it is finished I would sell shares in it so as to be able to build other constructions. In general, whenever I create something which creates revenue, I would like to you the capital produced on other projects." (Correspondence n°13669, 21 March, 1808)
At the same time restoration work on the Tuileries palace was continuing apace: "Restoration and embellishment work is currently being done on the Imperial Palace of the Tuileries. Monsieur Munich is in charge of the decoration and painting. They are to begin with the Salle des Grands Hommes; already some of the statues there have been moved. As for the theatre Salle de spectacle, the auditorium floor and stage floor are to be raised by two feet." (Journal de l'Empire, 27 March, 1808). And on 29 March: "The plans for the Arc de triomphe de l'Etoile (the Arc de Triomphe) have just been definitively approved by the Emperor. This arch will only have one arch, like the Porte Saint-Denis." (Journal de l'Empire)
150 YEARS AGO
Franco-British Entente
At the end of March, 1858, Queen Victoria offered Napoléon III a British artillery canon and limber as a mark of Franco-British amity. The artillery pieces were brought into the court of the Tuileries palace on the morning of 30 March by a detachment of Canonniers à cheval of the Garde impériale.
"The Emperor, accompanied by His Exc. Lord Cowley [British Ambassador], the War minister and General de La Hitte, President of the Comité d'artillerie (Artillery Committee), examined this magnificent specimen of British artillery in great detail (…) The 9-calibre cannon is remarkably polished and bears the arms of France and, above it, the inscription: TO NAPOLEON III FROM QUEEN VICTORIA" (Moniteur Universel, 31 March, 1858).
Victoria and Napoleon had met in 1855, a year when France and Britain were allies against Russia during the Crimean War. Their personal relationship was to flourish thereafter - Napoleon had lived years in Britain and had a long-standing British mistress, Miss Howard. Victoria even visited Paris during the Universal exhibition of 1855, the first British monarch to visit Paris since Louis XIV received James II.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 450, 28 March - 3 April, 2008
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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Got a problem with a link in the Bulletin? Go to the homepage: http://www.napoleon.org
REMINDER
The new Bibliothèque Fondation Napoléon library times are: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, from 1 to 6pm, Thursday from 10am to 3pm.
During the French school holidays the library openings times are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 1-30 to 6pm.
THIS WEEK in the MAGAZINE
Snippets
- Sir Humphrey Davy's medal from Napoleon
Recently published
- LAMAR Glenn J., Jerome Bonaparte: The War Years, 1800-1815
- JOUINEAU André, French Hussars, Volume 2: From the 1st to the 8th Regiment 1804-1812 (Officers & Soldiers)
- JOUINEAU André, French Hussars, Volume 3: From the 9th to the 14th Regiment, 1804-1818 (Officers and Soldiers)
- HOFSCHROER Peter, Waterloo 1815: Quatre Bras and Ligny
- GRAB Alexander, Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe
What's on
Conferences:
- War, Empire and Slavery c. 1790-1820, York, UK
- Napoleon III, man and politician, Paris, France
Exhibitions:
- Treasures of Napoleon, New Orleans, USA
- Napoleon III, der Kaiser vom Bodensee (The Emperor from Lake Constance), Arenenberg, Switzerland
- Napoleon – genius and tyrant, Namur, Belgium
- Royal weddings 1840-1947: from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II, Windsor, England
- Napoléon. Symboles des pouvoirs sous l'Empire (Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800–1815), Paris, France
- Napoleone Fasto imperiale. I Tesori della Fondation Napoléon, Rome, Italy
- A passion for Parma violets: Napoleon and Marie Louise, Parma, Italy
- Gustave Courbet, Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA
- The Eye of Josephine, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, United States
- Goya: the Disasters of War, Berkley Art Museum, University of California, USA
- La Rose Impériale: The Development of Modern Roses, Boone Gallery, The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, USA
- "The trace of the eagle", the Invalides dome, Paris, France
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