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In this week's letter...
we bring you the concluding volume of Thierry Lentz's marathon Nouvelle Histoire du Premier Empire, this month's highlighted book (includes an extract - in French). Then there's our Close-up on the tit-for-tat universal exhibitions of the Second Empire period in London and in Paris - here there are some wonderful external web links to photographs of the exhibitions, reproductions of watercolours and even a long, contentious and deeply politically incorrect essay by Charles Dickens in praise of Progress, comparing the Great Exhibition of 1851 with a contemporary London exhibition of Chinese objects, not to mention sixty downloadable periodicals (in French) giving the complete contents of the Paris 1867 exhibition. This is 21st century progress (in the form of the world wide web) saluting that of 150 years ago. After that we bring you news of an exhibition dedicated to the northern hero Collingwood (Nelson's colleague at Trafalgar) in the bicentenary year of his death. In '200 years ago' there's more 'tit-for-tat' as the United States tried wiggle it's way out of the Orders in Council and the Continental System and the birth of Napoleon's illegitimate son, Alexandre Walewski, and 150 years ago this week Garibaldi began the infamous 'Expedition of the Thousand'. We finish with a Second Empire report on tobacco addiction in Europe.
Enjoy...
STOP PRESS: Concerts for the bicentenary of the marriage of Napoleon and Marie-Louise
Three concerts are being organised by the Fondation Napoléon, 8 and 10 June, at the church of Saint-Louis des Invalides, and on 9 June at the church of Saint-Philippe du Roule (NB no longer Val-de-Grâce). The programme includes works not performed since the imperial marriage two hundred years ago.
For further information and tickets, click here.
Commemorative mass
The mass held in honour of Emperor Napoleon I and the soldiers of the Grande Armée who died for France will be held in the Eglise Saint-Louis des Invalides (Paris) on Wednesday 5 May, 2010, at 6.30pm. The Prince Napoléon will be in attendance..
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BOOK OF THE MONTH
Nouvelle Histoire du Premier Empire. Tome IV : Les Cent-Jours (1815), by Thierry Lentz
The early successes during the Cent-Jours came precisely at the wrong time: society in France had changed profoundly, and the elites had changed with it. Even those who had profited from the Napoleonic adventure sided with the "reactionaries" (that is to say, Royalists). Some of the "restored" emperor's decisions and appointments smacked of demagoguery (how else to explain a more "liberal" constitution or Napoleon's recall of Carnot, the man behind the victory in Year II?). Clearly, Napoleon was playing a losing hand, and although the country escaped relatively lightly in 1814, she was not so lucky a second time. France would pay dearly for the French emperor's last roll of the dice.
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NAPOLEON.ORG
A Close-up on: The great British and French universal exhibitions during the Second Empire
Starting in the 1850s, the industrialised countries abandoned their trade barriers and turned their national exhibitions into international «universal» exhibitions. The idea was to mount an exhibition in a capital city the savoir-faire of the world's rapidly expanding industries. London started with the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in 1851. This was followed shortly by Paris in 1855. Two further exhibitions were held in both capitals, London in 1862 and Paris again in 1867.
Exotic exhibitions: the Universal Exhibitions and extra-European cultures in France, 1855 - 1937
The Archives Nationales and the Musée d'histoire de France invite the visitor to delve into the history of the various Universal Exhibitions organised in France between 1855 and 1937, and how these exhibitions helped to mould western impressions of those cultures sometimes termed "exotic", and what it meant to be "different". The exhibition, which takes place at the Musée de l'Histoire de France (at the Archives Nationales, Paris), is open now and runs until 28 June, 2010.
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WHAT'S ON
Collingwood – Geordie Hero
Taking place at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle is an exhibition to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Admiral Lord Collingwood's death at sea on 7 March 1810.
Using objects, paintings and extracts from his letters it explores not only Collingwood's long naval career away from his home but also the influence on him of his lifelong love of Northumberland and the friends and family he left behind.
The exhibition runs until 27 June, 2010.
Talk: "Soldiers and Caricatures, 1750-1820" (lunchtime lecture)
On 13 May, 2010, the National Army Museum in London (UK) will feature "Soldiers and Caricatures, 1750-1820", one of their Lunchtime Lectures. The talk will be given by Danielle Thom, and the event starts at 12.30pm.
Talk: "In nome dell'Imperatore: romanzo ottocentesco" ("In the name of the Emperor: 19th century novel")
"In the name of the Emperor: 19th century novel", was published by Clerre, 2008. The talk will be given by the author, Fausta Garavini, and Marco Antonio Bazzocchi, of the Univesità di Bologna.
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Napoleonic Books online: the Digital Library
The Fondation Napoléon's library, the Bibliothèque Martial-Lapeyre has its own digital library, which includes a selection digitised books from the library and also from the Fondation Napoleon's fine arts collection. Of particular note is the small corpus of material related to the St Helena period. All the texts are full-text searchable and for the engravings there is a zoom features which allows you (with Napoleon) to ‘walk in the picture'. Why not have a look at the infamous ‘Manuscrit venu de Sainte-Hélène d'une manière inconnue', published in London in 1817.
200 YEARS AGO
American trade - Macon's Bill Number 2
In the United States on 1 May, 1810, Congress voted in Macon's Bill Number II, which placed an embargo on British and French empire goods entering America. Macon's Bill 2 (a reworked version of Macon's Bill No 1) followed the Non-Intercourse Act of 1 March, 1809 (soon to lapse, see Bulletin 526 and also Bulletin 526) which forbade British and French ships from entering American waters. The new bill repeated the ban on all British and French shipping (except those in peril or on diplomatic or postal missions). It also demanded that Britain and France respect the neutrality of American shipping and desist from confiscating American ships and cargoes. And it furthermore attempted to force Britain and France to come to terms, stating that the embargo would not cease until both nations had stopped attacking American vessels. The Americans gave the Europeans the deadline of 3 March 1811.
Alexandre Walewski
On 4 May, 1810 in the Walewski family palace in Walewice (near Lodz in Poland), Maria Walewska gave birth to a son called Alexandre, who had been sired by Napoleon during his time with Marie at Schönbrunn in the summer of 1809. The child was however to be recognised by Marie's husband and so received the name Walewski. Napoleon learned of the biorth of the child during his ‘honey-moon' spent with Marie-Louise visiting military emplacements in the Low Countries. As a birth gift, he sent some Brussels lace and 20,000 gold francs. In 1812, Napoleon granted the child the title of Count and gave him majorat (a stipend attached to the noble title).
150 YEARS AGO
Italy
- On 4 May, 1861, Garibaldi (with financial support from the kingdom of Piedmont Sardinia) bought two steamships, with the patriotic names Piemonte and Lombardo. On the evening of the following day, 1,162 poorly armed volunteers embarked in Quarto (a part of Genoa) and set sail for Palermo. It was the beginning of Garibaldi's famous ‘Expedition of the Thousand' with the aim of supporting liberals in the south of the peninsular and of bringing the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies into a united Italy.
Tobacco consumption
The Moniteur universel dated 30 April, 1860, reported on tobacco consumption in the world. Britain used about 15 million kilograms a year – representing a 25% increase in tobacco consumption over a ten year period.
«In France, we smoke more than in Britain. Hamburg smokes 40,000 cigars per day for a population of 150,000.» In Denmark, annual consumption was two kilograms per person, slightly less than in Belgium.
This industry employed 10,000 people (women, and children for the most part) with an annual production of 150 million cigars. And tobacco consumption was to increase despite the discovery by Claude Bernard in 1857 that nicotine was a health hazard. By 1870 in France, 24,000 tons of tobacco were consumed, a quarter of which taken as snuff.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 540, 30 April - 6 May, 2010
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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THE BIBLIOTHEQUE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
On Thursday 6 May, the library will (exceptionally) close at 2-30pm instead of 3pm.
Address: 148 boulevard Haussmann, 75008 Paris.
Open: Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 1 - 6pm, and on Thursdays from 10am to 3pm.
(school holidays: zone C, Tuesday-Wednesday 1-30-6pm; Thursday: 10am to 3pm).
Contact: bibliotheque@napoleon.org
FONDATION NAPOLEON ON THE WEB
Each week we offer you a "mystery" link to somewhere on napoleon.org. Click on the link to discover a part of the website you might not have visited before...
Statistic of the week:
16,000: since its launch in January 2010, the Fondation Napoléon's Digital Library has been consulted 16,000 times.
The Fondation Napoléon's triumvirate of Napoleonic websites:
- Napoleon.org
- Napoleonica. La Revue
- Napoleonica. Archives Online
The best of the month:
- Book of the month
- Painting of the month
- Objet d'Art of the month
- Article of the month
MAGAZINE
Just published
Nouvelle Histoire du Premier Empire. Tome IV : Les Cent-Jours (1815), by Thierry Lentz
EVENTS
On now and coming up
A selection of events taking place now or in the coming weeks, taken from our What's on listings.
Conference
- Fondation Napoléon/Souvenir Napoléonien "1810" conference, La Courneuve, France [08/06/2010 - 09/06/2010]
Full details
Concert
- Bicentenary concerts commemorating the marriage between Napoleon and Marie-Louise, Paris, France [08/06/2010 - 10/06/2010]
Full details
Dinner and cruise
- Souvenir Napoléonien gala dinner and cruise, Paris, France [05/05/2010]
Full details
Commemorations
- Annual May Ceremony in the British Cemetery, Elvas, Portugal [14/05/2010]
Full details
- Commemorative mass in honour of Napoleon I and the soldiers of the Grande Armée, Paris, France [05/05/2010]
Full details
Exhibitions
- "Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin, miniature painter", Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France [17/04/2010 - 20/06/2010]
Full details
- "Charlotte Bonaparte, Dama di molto spirito: the romantic life of a princess artist", Rome, Italy [05/02/2010 - 9/05/2010]
Full details
- "The imperial honeymoon: Paris 1810", Fontainebleau, France [02/04/2010 - 02/07/2010]
Full details
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