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EDITORIAL
Classic or Romantic?
In this week's letter, we bring you a great deal of ‘Art' with a capital A. The Napoleonic period was an extraordinary period of change in both music and painting, and historians and commentators have struggled with attempts spot the moment when the Classical/Neo-Classical finally gives way to the Romantic. But as can be seen from this week's letter (and was indeed explicitly noted at last week's atelier) the two ‘schools' seem to exist side-by-side, such that it is impossible to detect the ‘switch moment'. And indeed, in trying to identify this instant the terms seem to slip through our fingers.
Artistic movements grow and mutate, like plants; and names often obscure more than they elucidate. This week you can read about David, Ingres and Houdon ‘the Neo-Classical', William Blake ‘the Romantic', Waldmuller ‘the Realist', all rubbing shoulders in the same chronological period. At the Atelier on the musics (sic) of the early 19th century, we were all amazed to hear Romantic sounds in what is supposed to be a Classical period, especially the piano concerto by Herold (1812) which could have been written by the arch-Romantic Chopin.
In the final discussion at the Atelier, Professor Jean Mongrédien's spoke fascinatingly about the problem of style definition, coming up with a beautiful and helpful image for what is in the end a ‘slow growth' phenomenon. “It is as if”, he said, “these different pieces are like stars which gradually appear in the heavens one by one. Finally, so many have appeared that by the next time you look, the view has changed completely”.
So, leaving you with a vision of a constellation of beauties, we hope you enjoy this week's feast for the heart and mind.
Peter Hicks
Historian and International Affairs Manager, Fondation Napoléon
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PAINTING OF THE MONTH
Portrait of Juliette Récamier
"Often criticised for his history paintings, David was however unanimously praised for his portraits. And even though he felt portraiture a lesser genre, he never belittled it and left to posterity a gallery of portraits of his contemporaries which are some of his best work. Juliette Récamier, born in Lyons in 1777, a banker's daughter and wife, dominated the high society of the Consulate period. An invitation to her salon was not to be refused, and the crowds thronged her Parisian town mansion not only to gaze on the remarkable beauty of the hostess but also to cast envious glances at her fabulous frères Jacob furniture. Always surrounded by an entourage of male admirers (indeed adorers), Madame Récamier excited the passions of many a man, but most notably those of Lucien Bonaparte, and later Prince August of Prussia, Benjamin Constant and Chateaubriand."
There is also an exhibition currently taking place at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, dedicated to Juliette Récamier, as model, sponsor, collector and trend-setter, as well as the influence she and her 'close circle' had on art during the period.
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FONDATION NAPOLEON
Review of the second atelier de la Fondation Napoléon
On 24 March 2009, the Fondation Napoléon held the second in its series of study days aimed at improving the understanding of aspects of Napoleonic cultural history. This week we have a brief review of the day's proceedings, including details of the music that was performed. The full talks presented at the atelier will be available in a special edition of Napoleonica. La Revue, scheduled for release later this year.
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18TH AND 19TH CENTURY ART EXHIBITIONS
Paris...
William Blake (1757-1827): the visionary genius of English Romanticism
For the first time in France, the works of William Blake, that most romantic of English painters, go on display in a retrospective exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris. Blake was not only a visionary poet but also an exceptional painter, who despite little recognition during his own lifetime, is now considered to be one of the great poets and painters of the Romantic Age. The exhibition includes about 130 of his works, including items loaned exceptionally from British museums.
Waldmüller (1793-1865)
The Musée du Louvre, Paris, in collaboration with the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (Vienna), hosts a retrospective exhibition dedicated to the works of Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, the first time that his works have been made available to the French public. Although little known in France, Waldmüller was extremely influential in Austrian painting of the 19th century, and excelled in a number of different genres: portraits, landscapes, genre-painting, still lifes, and even plein-air paintings. A confirmed Realist, he paid meticulous attention to detail, while infusing his paintings with a subtle harmony.
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...and elsewhere
Ingres and the Moderns
The Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec, in Quebec City (Canada), welcomes an exhibition that lines up the many works of Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres against those produced by the "modern" (such as Picasso, Matisse and Picabia) and contemporary (including Man Ray, Cindy Sherman and David Hockney) artists who were inspired by the French painter.
Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828)
Taking place at the Museu Historico Nacional in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), this exhibition is dedicated to Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828) who was well-known for his neoclassical sculptures. Talented in marble, wax, plaster, bronze and clay mediums, he was often described as the "sculptor of the Enlightenment". He is famous for his portrait busts of such important 18th and 19th century figures as Voltaire, Diderot, Benjamin Franklin, Rousseau, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and indeed Napoleon Bonaparte.
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200 YEARS AGO
The Tyrol: mountain warfare
In a letter to Berthier dated 8 April 1809, Napoleon outlined his plans for the forthcoming conflict with Austria, including a piece of advice regarding the Tyrol that he would come to regret, despite its prescience.
"Let the Austrians do what they will with the Tyrol; under no circumstances do I want to become engaged in a mountain-based war." [Napoleon to Berthier, Prince de Neuchatel, 8 April, 1809]
Whilst the Austrian army invaded Bavaria proper on 10 April, Tyrolean peasant-soldiers, supported by additional Austrian troops, overcame and defeated the Bavarian forces stationed in the Tyrol. Between 9 and 13 April, the Bavarian troops were annihilated and Innsbruck was seized. In particular, the French and Bavarian forces ordered to deal with the insurgency were unused to the mountainous nature of the conflict, the sort of combat that Napoleon had explicitly sought to avoid. A French general, writing in December 1809 (after nearly eight months of fighting), noted the difficulty facing his men:
"The enemy can scale the highest of mountains, which are completely inaccessible to us, even for our most nimble voltigeurs [light skirmish troops]. I could not understand how they managed to walk on the snow, whilst we found ourselves up to our necks in it the moment we stepped off the cleared path. I finally discovered their secret. They have round boards, roughly fourteen pouces in diameter [35cm] that they attach to their feet, preventing them from sinking [in the snow]. I immediately had them tested, and they are currently being made for my voltigeurs, but they will not be anything like as skilled with them as the [Tyroleans] are, who are used to them." [Raoul de Broglie, Souvenirs français dans le Tyrol]
Coming next week: our close-up on Andreas Hofer and insurrection in the Tyrol.
150 YEARS AGO
Italian affairs: stalemate
Despite the announcement of the proposed conference regarding the escalating situation in Italy on 22 March, 1859 (see bulletin n° 490), nothing was forthcoming. Discussions continued behind the scenes, mainly regarding the disarmament of Piedmont. On 2 April, 1859, Napoleon wrote to the Prince Napoleon, perfectly encapsulating the state of attentisme that Europe found itself in:
"We are expecting every day the reply from St. Petersburg in order to convene the Conference." [Letter from Napoleon III to the Prince Napoleon dated 2 April, 1859]
Two weeks later, in his entry for 16 April, the Comte Horace de Viel Castel was none the wiser, noting simply:
"Still the same uncertainty; will there or will there not be a congress regarding Italy? Austria is being difficult, the question is being drawn out, and Piedmont continues to do everything it can to confuse matters." [Memoires du Comte Horace de Viel Castel, 16 April, 1859]
War was just around the corner.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks and Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 492, 3 - 9 April 2009
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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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THE BIBLIOTHEQUE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
Winter opening times:
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday: 1pm-6pm
Thursday: 10am-3pm
(Closed Friday)
THE MAGAZINE
Book of the month (English)
- Soldiers, Citizens and Civilians: Experiences and Perceptions of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1790-1820
Book of the month (French)
- 1809, les Français à Vienne. Chronique d'une occupation
Press review
- Book review: Russia's Age of Serfdom, 1649-1861
Seen on the web (all links are external)
- The Super-Enlightenment: a digital collection of Stanford University Libraries dedicated to the "darker" side of the Enlightenment
Fondation Napoléon History Prizes 2008
- Francis and Madeleine Ambrière, Talma, ou l'histoire du théâtre
- Alain Decaux, Coup d'état à l'Elysée
- Edgardo Donati, La Toscana nell'impero napoleonico
Fondation Napoléon news
- Fondation Napoléon Research Grants 2008
WHAT'S ON
Talks
- "The Death of Napoleon: myths, legends and mysteries", Paris (France), 8 April, 2009
Conferences
- "Breaking Boundaries: the 1790s in Germany, France and Britain. Revolution, Liberation and Excess", London (UK), 22-24 April, 2009
- "Napoléon", Montreal (Canada), 20 March - 3 April, 2009
- Australian Napoleonic Congress, Goulburn (Australia), 31 October - 1 November, 2009
Commemorations
- Annual May Ceremony in the British Cemetery
- Bicentennial commemoration of the death of Maréchal Lannes
- French presence in South Africa
Re-enactments
- Znaim 1809 bicentenary re-enactment, Znojmo and Dobšice (Czech Republic), 11-12 July, 2009
- Bivouac and the Battle of Oostmalle, Oostmalle (Belgium), 5-6 September, 2009
Exhibitions
- "The Plains of Mars: European War Prints, 1500—1825, from the Collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation", Houston, USA [08/02/2009 - 10/05/2009]
Full details
- "Imperial Splendour", Manderen, France [15/03/2009 - 31/08/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon, Commander, Emperor and Genius", Schallaburg, Germany [16/05/2009 - 01/11/2009]
Full details
- "Waldmüller (1793-1865)", Paris, France [26/02/2009 - 18/05/2009]
Full details
- "William Blake (1757-1827): the visionary genius of English Romanticism", Paris, France [02/04/2009 - 28/06/2009]
Full details
- "Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828)", Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [29/04/2009 - 05/07/2009]
Full details
- "Ingres and the Moderns", Quebec City, Canada [05/02/2009 - 31/05/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon, genius and despot", Saarlouis, Germany [25/01/2009 - 10/05/2009]
Full details
- "Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet and the origins of the Napoleonic legend", Boulogne-Billancourt, France [05/03/2009 - 27/06/2009]
Full details
- Imperial painter: Pietro Benvenuti at the court of Napoleon and the Lorenas, Florence, Italy [10/03/2009 - 21/06/2009]
Full details
- "Romania on the road to modernity: 150 years since the unification of the principalities under Prince Cuza", Bucharest, Romania [22/01/2009 - 24/05/2009]
Full details
- "Coinage at War. Catalonia in Napoleonic Europe", Barcelona, Spain [04/06/08 - 03/05/09]
Full details
- "The Crinoline Empire (1852-1870)", Paris, France [29/11/2008 - 26/04/2009]
Full details
- "Ben Weider Collection at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts", Montreal, Canada [Permanent]
Full details<<
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