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THIS WEEK IN THE BULLETIN
This week we bring you a remarkable survival from the fire at the Tuileries palace in 1871, the majestic centre piece of France distributing wreaths of glory, made by the jewellers, Christofle. Then there is the exhibition, Symbols of Power, recently arrived in Paris from the USA. Thereafter in '200 years ago', read the continuing story of Napoleon and the Iberian peninsula, followed by news of the cleaning and re-opening of the Grand Canal behind the Palace at Versailles. In '150 years ago', there's Napoleon III opening that great street, the Boulevard de Sebastopol, named after the Crimean War victory and also, in the Sunday supplement of the period, snippets from the recently published Napoleon I correspondence. In Snippets, there a ghostly voice from the Second Empire, and in ‘Seen on the web', there's a re-enactment group of Italian First Empire coast guards from Ancona.
Enjoy.
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THIS MONTH'S OBJECT
The ‘surtout de table' garniture for the hundred-piece table service: "France distributing wreaths of glory", by Christofle
This garniture for the hundred-piece table service, today exhibited at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in the gallery dedicated to the Universal Exhibitions, is a fine example of the virtuosity of Second Empire industrial art. The Prince President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte commissioned the garniture from the celebrated jewellers Christofle in 1852, and it was to be used for formal banquets at the Tuileries Palace.
© Les Arts Décoratifs
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EXHIBITION NEWS
Napoléon. Symboles des pouvoirs sous l'Empire - Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800–1815 [03/04/2008 - 05/10/2008]
The aim of this exhibition is to provide an insight into the ornaments chosen by the last French political regime to have ordered the expression of a total, official art, whose impact spread throughout Europe. It will show how the men of the Empire appropriated the language of imagery and subjected it to their political and economic exigencies, and how expressions of seduction, which imperial power distrusted, asserted themselves despite their prohibition. Considering that decorative art is a privileged means of observing the evolution of mentalities and that ornament is, by its very nature, its essential vehicle, the exhibition proposes an iconographic reading of a regime's images, the ideals they convey and their formal expressions. © Musée des arts décoratifs
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200 YEARS AGO
Spanish Affairs
Having settled his affairs in the Italian peninsula (by giving Pius VII an ultimatum, see last week's Bulletin), Napoleon turned his attention to the Iberian, leaving on 2 April, for Bayonne. That there was about to be a ‘regime change' in Spain had been apparent since the arrival en masse of French troops in Spanish territory at the end of 1807 and the beginning of 1808. But the question on everyone's lips was which way would France fall in support of the new head: Ferdinand Prince of the Asturias, the latter's father Charles IV, or a French candidate? Spanish politicians were aware that a French candidate was not out of the question. The Prince of Peace, Godoy (and so king Charles IV) had learned this much from leaked details of a meeting on 24 February, 1808 (between Talleyrand, Duroc and the Spanish diplomat Izquierdo), which raised the possibility that “Spain could be handed to Napoleon and Portugal be given to Spain in recompense”. At the same time, Ferdinand had organised violent riots bringing about the destitution of Godoy and the abdication of his father, Charles. Murat (leading the French troops installed in the Spanish capital) invited the ex-king to return to the capital to reconsider his action. Napoleon then wrote to both father and son proposing that they come to meet him so that he could mediate between the two, and he himself then set out from Saint-Cloud to meet them on 2 April (the Spaniards were initially invited to Burgos, but Napoleon in fact never intended to go further than Bayonne). Since this was to be a very secret summit with the “two kings of Spain”, the French newspapers were told that the emperor was leaving for a state visit to the South of France – there was naturally much discussion in political circles as to the real reason (Police bulletin of 6 April). On 4 April, in Barbezieux (not far from Angoulême), Napoleon stopped just long enough to eat breakfast/lunch, to receive the local dignitaries, and to dictate a letter to Clarke ordering a great number of troops (including 50 drummers and 20 trumpeters, in order to provide an honour guard for the Spanish royalty), some to be sent to Spain and others to Bayonne, city in which Napoleon planned to receive the Spanish Bourbons (Correspondence 13,716 and 13,179). The king fils for his part agreed to the mediation, arriving in Burgos on 10 April, where Bessières was stationed with 23,000 troops. Napoleon was not there, and Ferdinand found himself encouraged to go on to Vitoria. He refused to go further, however…: to be continued
The Grand Canal in Versailles
The Gazette de France, 6 April, 1808, reported on recent repairs to the Grand Canal facing the Palace in Versailles. “For more than 15 years, the Grand Canal was dry, filled with mud and weeds. H.M. the Emperor gave the order for it to be repaired and for four days now it has been filled with water. The repair work is now finished.”
150 YEARS AGO
Urbanism: the inauguration ceremony for the new Boulevard Sebastopol in Paris
At an august opening ceremony of the Boulvard Sebastopol on 5 April, 1858, celebrating Second Empire progress and this milestone in Haussmann's programme for the city of Paris, the Emperor Napoleon III spoke the following words on the changes brought about by contemporary technology. His speech highlights the principal urban issues facing Paris's city government, namely, sudden population growth as a result of the growth of the railways, the need for financial acuity, changes in supply and demand (again brought about by the railways), public health (caused by overcrowding and overloaded infrastructures), transport, water supply and sewage disposal, architectural beauty and finally civic and national pride: “We live in times when the creation of the railways is changing all the economic conditions in this country. Not only do they absorb all the available capital, they also, when built, encourage the populating of towns and modify relations between producers and suppliers. The Paris town council had a multifarious task to perform: first, to ensure Paris's financial prosperity, then to facilitate the construction of new buildings as to be able to house the sudden leap in population numbers. Demolition had to take place before new roads could bring light and health to insalubrious neighbourhoods. New arterial roads had to be built to link the two extremities of the city. […] When future generations cross our great town, not only will they get a taste for the handsome on seeing the spectacle and works of art, they will also be reminded, as they read the names inscribed on our bridges and roads, of the glory of our armies, from Rivoli to Sebastopol.” The editor of the Moniteur went on to praise (prophetically) Napoleon's urban policy: “This is a splendid example of the immense works of public utility whose benefit will forever remind future generations of the reign of Napoleon III. Everything bears the imprint of the grandeur characteristic of the works of this reign: vast size, beautiful aspect, attention to detail, variety of construction and yet harmonised with the whole; gigantic underground conduits, the centre of the whole Paris sewage system and water distribution. Nothing is missing in this gigantic undertaking.” Moniteur Universel, 6 April, 1858.
The Correspondence of Napoleon I, 1858
In the equivalent of its ‘Sunday supplement', the Moniteur universel (Sunday 4 April, 1858) continued to publish letters selected from the recently published first volume of the correspondence of Napoleon. In conformity with the desire (printed in the introduction) that the publication be ‘a monument of the glory of Napoleon I', the letters underlined how “General Bonaparte pursued war and politics with equal superiority'.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 452, 4 - 10 April, 2008
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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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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
- A voice from the Second Empire
Seen on the web
- 5° Compagnia Cannieri guarda Coste
Re-enactment group of Italian coast guards of the French period
What's on
Conferences
- War, Empire and Slavery c. 1790-1820
- Napoleon III, man and politician
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
- König Lustik!? Jérôme Bonaparte and the Model State: the Kingdom of Westphalia, Kassel, Germany
- 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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