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Yes, TONIGHT, Josephine…
Ever since the European old-cons (the ancestors of America's neo-cons) grabbed Napoleon I's public image by the "short and curlies", we in the English-language world have always had to make a special effort to take Napoleon seriously. The lampoons of the time were incredibly successful in making Napoleon a small, pathetic figure, whose sexual prowess and physical endowments (shortness in every respect) make us snigger. So how could we not be struck this week by the very opposite being presented as an advert for a modern British perfume: Napoleon, the Italian Stallion, Corsica's greatest love-machine, the very model of 'thrusting virility'? The fact is, however, whether Napoleon is sold as a 'Latin lover' or 'big girl's blouse', the caricature remains just that. Taking Napoleon seriously is much more interesting, going beyond the equally banal image of the ego-maniac obsessed with universal domination and trying to see sense in the exceedingly complicated figure of the, yes, energetic but not very beefy (in the Murat sense) general, the passionate husband, the wily politician, and the autocratic monarch with absolutist tendencies (and obsessed with his dynasty) who brought in his train throughout Europe the abolition of feudal exploitation and the installation of one law for all, whether high or low. Bring it on, big boy...
Peter Hicks
International Relations Manager
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NAPOLEONIC NEWS
Jean Tulard honoured
On 9 September just passed, at the Palais d'Elysée, the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, presented Professor Jean Tulard with the insignia of Commandeur of the Légion d'Honneur. Clearly, we can no longer refer to him as just a master of Napoleonic studies, a subject that in any case the President of the Republic spent a long time acknowledging in his speech. The head of state also devoted a great deal of his speech to highlighting Jean Tulard's other passions: cinema, cuisine and... Les Pieds Nickelés [an early French comic strip, ed.], a new, complete edition of which the professor is currently preparing for publication, having already released a scholarly work on the subject two years ago.
Accompanied by his family and several Napoleonic friends, including Victor-André Masséna and Thierry Lentz, president and director of the Fondation Napoléon respectively, the high priest of Napoleonic studies cannot have failed to notice that in the midst of the promotion ceremony, officiated by the president-grandmaster of the order, were two great screen actresses, Jacqueline Bisset and Olivia de Haviland.
The Fondation Napoléon offers its heartfelt congratulations.
© Unité photographique de la Présidence de la République
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ARTICLE OF THE MONTH
"The Nobility of the Empire and the Elite groups of the 19th century - a Successful Fusion", by Natalie Petiteau
Apart from the works of Louis Bergeron, writings on the social history of the First Empire have been hampered by gross short-sightedness, and this has concealed the true extent of the influence of the years of reconstruction in post-revolutionary France. Since the Empire saw itself as the stabilising factor of a Revolution which had put an end to the hierarchical society of the Ancien Regime and the founder of a society which fulfilled the desires expressed at the end of the 18th century, study of this period should take the long view and so stimulate reflection and to help clarify the problems of social development. By ignoring the traditional historical boundaries, the historian can take a fundamental step towards comprehending the transition between the society of rank and the society of the 19th century.
And on the French side, napoleon.org has an article by Bertrand Lemoine on the increasing use of iron in architectural structures built during the Second Empire and the driving force behind the change, Napoleon III.
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NAPOLEONIC SITES
The Musée Napoléon de la Pommerie, Cendrieux, France
Tucked away in the small commune of Cendrieux, in the heart of the Périgord region, and housed in a modest château belonging to the Witt family, is the Musée Napoléon de la Pommerie. The property was acquired towards the end of the 1940s by Princess Marie-Clotilde Napoléon, the great grand-daughter of Jerome, King of Westphalia, and her husband, Comte Serge de Witt. The Musée Napoléon, opened in 1999, holds a large number of souvenirs once belonging to the imperial family and handed down by through the years. As well as the museum, the domaine de La Pommerie regularly organises cultural events, including concerts, theatrical performances, cinema screenings and talks.
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JUST PUBLISHED
Empires of the Imagination, by Holger Hoock
Between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, Britain evolved from a substantial international power yet relative artistic backwater into a global superpower and a leading cultural force in Europe. Britons invested artistic and imaginative effort to come to terms with the loss of the American colonies; to sustain the generation-long fight against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France; and to assert and legitimate their growing empire in India. In exploring how Britain fought international culture wars over prize antiquities from the Mediterranean and Near East, and appropriated ancient cultures from India, too, the book casts an eye on iconic objects such as the Rosetta Stone, and the Parthenon and Amaravati Marbles.
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WHAT'S ON
Napoleon and the Louvre, Moscow, Russia
This exhibition takes place as part of the France-Russia Year 2010 celebrations. Exhibits from a number of French institutions, including the Fondation Napoléon, recount the history of the Louvre, Napoleon's connection with this famous institution, and the French emperor's life. Prestigious loans from the Fondation Napoléon include a plate from the "Service particulier de l'Empereur", made by the Sèvres Manufactory, with artwork from Jean-François Robert, and the empress Josephine's paper holder, produced by Martin-Guillaume Biennais. Many of the items on display have never been seen in public in Russia before.
200 YEARS AGO
Portugal: the two sides prepare for battle
On 21 September, with his headquarters installed at the convent in Buçaco, and his troops well placed to react to any French movement coming out of Vizeu, Wellington remarked in a letter to Lord Liverpool, "We have an excellent position here, in which I am strongly tempted to give battle."
Masséna, on the other hand, was raging at the delay and wrote to Berthier on 22 September, describing the extremely difficult conditions in which the army found itself:
"It is impossible to find worse roads than these; they bristle with rocks; the guns and train have suffered severely, and I must wait for them. I must leave them two days at Vizeu when they come in, to rest themselves, while I resume my march on Coimbra, where (as I am informed) I shall find the Anglo-Portuguese concentrated. Sir, all our marches are across a desert; not a soul to be seen anywhere; everything is abandoned. [...] We cannot find a guide anywhere."
By 20 September, it became clear to Wellington that battle would be pitched on the Buçaco mountain range and by 21 September, the British troops were prepared and concentrated in the area between Luso, Mortágua and the Buçaco mountain range. That same day, the advance guard of Ney's 6th Corps headed out from Tondela (25 km south-west of Vizeu). The British outposts were driven back near the Criz river and Wellington's troops withdrew to Mortágua (about 18 km east of the Buçaco mountain range, near Luso). On 22 September, Ney's troops were en route between Casal de Maria and Santa Comba Dão, about 25 km east of the convent perched on the top of the Buçaco ridge. The two armies would not have long to wait...
150 YEARS AGO
The Chinese expedition: the battles of Zhangjiawan and Baliqiao
With a number of allied diplomats and high-ranking negotiators held prisoner by the Chinese (see bulletin n° 552), on 18 September, allied forces commanded by Moutauban and General James Hope Grant defeated 30,000 Chinese troops under Sengge Rinchen in a pitched battle at Zhangjiawan, east of Tongzhou. On 19 September, following a failed allied attempt to secure the release of the remaining prisoners taken during the ambush, preparations were begun for the decisive final battle. 30,000 Chinese troops were stationed at the bridge at Baliqiao (known in French as Palikao). At 5am on 21 September, eight to ten thousand allied troops advanced on the bridge. The battle became famous for the doomed cavalry charges performed by the Mongolian cavalry in the face of concentrated allied infantry and artillery fire, and the Chinese losses (killed or wounded) were estimated at between 20,000 and 25,000. The allied losses, as described in the official report on the campaign released in 1862, came to 1,200 wounded or killed. Following the action, Napoleon III awarded Montauban with the title of "Comte de Palikao".
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 553, 17 - 23 September, 2010
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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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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:
By 1811, the Musée Napoléon (today the Louvre) had 1,200 paintings in its collection.
MAGAZINE
Press review
- New perfume inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte
- Book review: Enlightened Reform in Southern Europe and its Atlantic Colonies, c. 1750-1830
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.
Exhibitions
- "Napoleon and the Louvre", Moscow, Russia [20/09/2010 - 10/12/2010]
Full details
Re-enactments
- Grand historical re-enactment, Peschiera, Italy [17/09/2010 - 19/09/2010]
Full details
Visits
- Souvenir Napoléonien Louis Bonaparte trip to the Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [20/09/2010 - 24/09/2010]
- Souvenir Napoléonien St Helena trip, Jamestown, St Helena [30/05/2011 - 19/06/2011]
NAPOLEON.ORG
The best of the month:
- Book of the month
- Painting of the month
- Objet d'Art of the month
- Article of the month
NAPOLEONICA.LA REVUE
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