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EDITORIAL
Historical time
21 April, 1808 - 21 April, 2008. 200 years ago Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, son of Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais, was born in Paris. The child was fourth in line to the throne, following his uncle Joseph, his father and his brother, Napoleon-Louis. The rest is well known: he was elected ‘député' (member of the French parliament) then President of the Republic (the first French president to be elected by universal direct suffrage) and finally proclaimed emperor of the French four years later, under the name of Napoleon III. He ruled until 1870. Since Louis XV, no French head of state had been in power for so long.
The bicentenary of the birth of the second emperor is the occasion for several events, of which the most important is the mass celebrated at St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough (UK) on 20 April, in the presence of H.I.H. the Prince Napoléon, the imperial family and many VIPs. The King of Spain and the Queen of England will be represented. The French ambassador in London will represent the French President.
This official French presence is a first and it confirms that for this sovereign – so often (and often unjustly) decried – his historical time has really come.
Your Bulletin this week is largely given over to Napoleon III.
An excellent week to you all.
Thierry Lentz
Director of the Fondation Napoléon
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THIS MONTH'S PAINTING
Standing portrait of Napoleon III, in the uniform of Brigadier General, in his Grand Cabinet at the Tuileries, by Flandrin
This penetrating psychological study of the emperor was painted in 1853 by Hippolyte Flandrin, a pupil of Ingres's. Indeed, almost despite the fact that it was an official commission, the work is profound and reveals the complexity of the man's character. The emperor is wearing a military uniform and stands staring at the viewer, whilst over his shoulder looms a marble bust of Napoleon I. On his desk lie maps of France and a volume of Caesar's Gallic Wars. The clouded expression, much noted by contemporaries, has an exceptional intensity. "This is without doubt the first «real» portrait which we have of Your Majesty" declared Théophile Gautier.
© Versailles, Musée national du château
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BICENTENNIAL CLOSE UP ON NAPOLEON III, 1808-2008
Though the nephew of an Emperor and the son of a king, Louis-Napoleon's route to the throne of France was a difficult one. At his birth he was a sickly child and his mother, the Queen Hortense, suffered severe post-natal depression. Napoleon I, however, is supposed to have said that Louis-Napoleon was perhaps the future of the dynasty. And indeed, after the fall of the Empire (and especially after the death of the Aiglon in 1832), Hortense's son began to sense his imperial ‘destiny'. After two failed coups and a spell in prison, Louis-Napoleon finally managed to become the first President of the French Republic, in 1848. And this in turn led to the final coup of 2 December 1852 and the return of the Empire with Louis at its head as a second ‘Napoleon'.
Though the Second Empire and Napoleon III were much denigrated by the Third Republic, today researchers and enthusiasts are rediscovering the successes and failures of that brilliant regime.
Agenda > 2008 - Napoleon III Year
2008 is Napoleon III year. April 2008 is marked by bicentenary comemorations for the birth of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, future Napoleon III, including a mass celebrated at Farnborough, a bicentennial exhibition at Arenenberg and an international conference organised by the Fondation on Napoleon III the man and the politician.
- 20 April, 2008: a mass will be celebrated at the St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough (UK), in the presence of H.I.H. the Prince Napoléon, the imperial family and many VIPs. The King of Spain and the Queen of England will be represented. The French ambassador in London will represent the French President.
- Starting on 20 April, 2008: Exhibition: Napoleon III, der Kaiser vom Bodensee (The Emperor from Lake Constance), Arenenberg, Switzerland
- 19 and 20 May, 2008: Grand bicentennial international conference, organised by the Fondation Napoléon: Napoleon III, man and politician, Paris, France
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200 YEARS AGO
Birth of a third son to Hortense and Louis Bonaparte, Louis-Napoléon, the future Napoleon III
According to the child's mother in her memoirs, Louis-Napoléon, third son of the King and Queen of Holland was born very early in the morning of Thursday 21 April (1 o'clock), at 8 Rue Cerruti (today 17 Rue Laffitte), in Paris. The child was born slightly premature and so of a weak constitution. It was a difficult birth. The father, Louis Bonaparte, was not present.
"Today, Wednesday 20 April, at one in the morning [The Moniteur of 21 April considered ‘one in the morning' both today and Wednesday 20!, ed.], HM the Queen of Holland successfully gave birth to a prince. In conformity with article 40 of the Acte des Constitutions, dated 28 Floréal, An XII, His Serene Highness Monseigneur the Prince Archchancellor of the Empire [Cambaceres, ed.] was present at the birth. His Highness wrote immediately to HM the Emperor and King, to HM the Empress and Queen and to HM the King of Holland, informing them of the news. […] At five o'clock in the afternoon, the certificate of birth was received by His Serene Highness Monseigneur the Prince Archchancellor, accompanied by H. Exc. Monsieur Regnault [de Saint-Jean-d'Angély, ed.], Minister of State, and Secretary of State to the Imperial Family. Given the absence of HM the Emperor and King, the newborn prince has not received a Christian name; he will receive one by a subsequent ‘acte', following the orders of SM. The witnesses to the certificate of birth' were Their Serene Highnesses the Prince Arch Treasurer and the Prince Vice-Grand Elector. They were appointed by the Prince Archchancellor, in conformity with article 19 of the Imperial statute of 30 March, 1806, given the absence of all the blood princes. HIH Madame mère, HM the Queen of Holland, HIH Madame the Princesse Caroline, Grand Duchess of Berg; His Eminent Highness, Monsignor the Cardinal Fesch, and HE Monsieur the Admiral Verhuel, HM the King of Holland's Ambassador to HM the Emperor and King, were present at the signing of the certificate." (Moniteur, 21 April, 1808)
"On being informed by a chamberlain that HM had given birth, His Eminence Monsignor the Cardinal Fesch, went immediately to HM's palace [in fact, the town mansion at 8 rue Cerutti, ed.] where, assisted by the Emperor's chaplain, the Vicar General of the Grande Aumônerie, and the Master of Ceremonies of the Imperial Chapel, he summarily baptised the newborn prince […]" (Moniteur 28 April, 1808)
For more on the birth and the way the news was received, click here.
150 YEARS AGO
In honour of the Emperor's fiftieth birthday, an equestrian statue of Napoleon III was erected in Bordeaux on 20 April, 1858. "The inauguration celebration for the equestrian statue of the emperor in Bordeaux took place yesterday [21 April]. Favoured by the weather, the celebration was magnificent. The whole population was there, along with more than 400 mayors from the neighbouring rural communes. On the request of traders, the Bourse was closed. The most enthusiastic cries of « Vive l'Empereur” were heard when the statue was unveiled." (Moniteur Universel, 22 April, 1858)
After the debacle at Sedan, this statue was destroyed in 1870 by angry locals.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
mailto:peter@napoleon.org
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 454, 18 - 24 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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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
What's on
Re-enactments
- Waltham Abbey Gunpowder Mills, Essex, UK
- Call to Arms History Fair 2, Rockingham Castle, Leicestershire, UK
- The battle of Bourtange in 1814, nr Groningen, Netherlands
- International Napoleonic Fair, Essex, UK
- Newstead Abbey, Nottingham, UK
- Ironfest 2008, The Battle of Lithgow, Blue Mountains, Australia
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
- 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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