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THE LATEST...
... issue of Napoleonica. La Revue is now available online on Cairn.info. Number eight features articles on French prisoners in Great Britain, Joseph Bonaparte and Napoleonist politics, Talleyrand as a man of the Enlightenment, Napoleon and the navy, a political analysis of Prince Napoleon (Plon-Plon) and Condorcet, and an imaginary dialogue between a British traveler and Napoleon, as well as a book review of Ricardo García Cárcel's El sueño de la nación indomable. Los mitos de la Guerra de la Independencia. Our latest painting of the month comes from Claude Monet, one of the founders of the impressionist movement, whilst in seen on the web, we have a whole host of digital material on Garibaldi and the Risorgimento available through Brown University's Library Center. In our press review, there's an article investigating how the Battle of Trafalgar was experienced from deep in the bowels of the HMS Temeraire, and we have some information on the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, UK. Finally, 200 and 150 years ago feature baptisms, high hopes and a rocky island off the coast of Sardinia called Caprera.
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PAINTING OF THE MONTH
Women in the Garden, by Claude Monet
The Second Empire period, although a financially difficult time for Monet, nevertheless failed to shake his belief in a new, modern style of painting entirely disassociated from the masters of the past, which would lay the foundations of the impressionist movement. In 1866, Monet - his career at a temporary high point brought about by the success of Camille or The Woman in the Green Dress at that year's Salon - began work on a new composition: a full-size canvas, inspired once again by contemporary daily life, which was to be his Women in the Garden.
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NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
Issue n° 8 out now
The latest issue of the Fondation Napoléon's scholarly review, Napoleonica. La Revue, is now available on Cairn.info. To start things off, we have chosen Peter Hicks' article, "Joseph Bonaparte and the 'Réunion de famille' of 1832-33", as our first selection from the new release. After the fall of the First Empire in 1815, Joseph Bonaparte took up residence in New Jersey on an estate known as "Point Breeze". As head of the family, Joseph spent a great deal of money, time and effort trying to put the Duke of Reichstadt on the French throne instead of Louis Philippe. This article sheds light on Joseph Bonaparte, his political campaign, and "Napoleonist" opposition in the years immediately following Louis Philippe's accession.
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NAPOLEON.ORG
Places, museums and monuments: the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK
Formally established by Act of Parliament in 1934 and opened to the public by King George VI on 27 April 1937, the National Maritime Museum (NMM) comprises three sites: the Maritime Galleries, the Royal Observatory and the Queen's House. Together these constitute one museum working to illustrate for everyone the importance of the sea, ships, time and the stars and their relationship with people. The museum and the Royal Observatory, Greenwich have a collection of over two million objects about the sea, ships, astronomy and time, including over 700 items related to Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson. Details and images of a large part of the collection are accessible online via the museum's website.
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SEEN ON THE WEB
Brown University Library Center for Digital Initiatives: The Garibaldi Panorama: Visualizing the Risorgimento
A joint project of the Department of Italian Studies and the Center for Digital Initiatives, the Library Center at Brown University offers an online digital archive dedicated to the study of Garibaldi and the Risorgimento. As well as a number of images and documents related to the events of the unification process, the library has also published details of its project to digitise the Garibaldi panorama. Amongst the large amount of material to be found on the website, the section features two animations of the artwork, a paper on it taken from the twelfth International Panorama Conference, and a PDF brochure produced by Dr. James W. Smith.
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PRESS REVIEW
The Battle of Trafalgar: a voice from below decks
The Guardian website has recently reported on the UK's National Maritime Museum's item of the month, a letter from Robert Hope - a sailor onboard HMS Temeraire - written just after the Battle of Trafalgar. The letter is unusual simply because it is neither an official account of the battle, nor a report written by an officer, but the voice of a sailor who experienced the combat from below deck. A member of the sailmakers' crew, Hope penned the letter to his brother, based in Ashford, on 4 November, 1805, whilst moored in Portsmouth, and describes some of the fiercest moments of the day's fighting. Recently acquired, the document has undergone some conservation work and is now on display to the general public.
200 YEARS AGO
Baptisms and high hopes
On 5 November, 1810, the Moniteur reported on the baptism ceremony celebrated by Cardinal Fesch, which took place in the Trinity Chapel of the palace of Fontainebleau on Sunday 4 November. Alongside the children of Berthier (Prince de Neuchâtel), the deceased Jean Lannes (Duc de Montebello), Maret (Duc de Bassano) and Champagny (Duc de Cadore) held over the font by Napoleon and the empress, was Louis-Charles-Napoleon, son of Louis Napoleon and Hortense de Beauharnais and the future Napoleon III.
According to Constant's memoirs, Napoleon - full of hope for an heir of his own and rubbing his hands together in anticipation - was said to have remarked after the ceremony to a number of his close associates:
"'Before long, gentlemen, we shall have, I hope, another child to baptise.' His Majesty's words were received with all the pleasure that they were intended to inspire. Already, the empress' pregnancy had been cause for much talk at the château. [...]
[And upon confirmation of the pregnancy], the empress was often seen strolling [in the gardens at Fontainebleau], supported by her ladies, and suffering from those bouts of nausea which so delighted everyone else." [Mémoires de Constant, premier valet de chambre de l'empereur, sur la vie privée de Napoléon, sa famille et sa cour, 1830]
150 YEARS AGO
Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi enter Naples
On 5 November, 1860, the Morning Chronicle (London) reported on the Piedmontese army's defeat of the Bourbon army beyond the Garigliano on 3 November. Francesco II, king of the Two Sicilies, along with his wife, Marie Sophie, had by this time retreated to the fortress at Gaeta. And so, on 5 November, began the siege of Gaeta, the last act of the war between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies [see bulletin n° 557]. The Sicilians holed up in the well-defended fortress were to hold out until February 1861.
Whilst the siege continued, Victor Emmanuel, alongside Garibaldi, made his victorious entrance in Naples, after which Garibaldi refused all honours, resigned his command and, on 9 November, retired to Caprera - small rocky island off the coast of Sardinia - with nothing more than three hundred lira and a few beans in his pocket.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 559, 5 - 11 November
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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
The provisional budget for the works required to save and preserve the "Generals' quarters" at Longwood, on the island of Saint Helena, is set at 1.5 million Euros.
MAGAZINE
Press review
- The Guardian: "Trafalgar account is rare voice from below decks"
- Napoleonic maps available online
- Brown University Library Center for Digital Initiatives: The Garibaldi Panorama: Visualizing the Risorgimento
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
- "Claude Monet 1840-1926", Paris, France [22/09/2010 - 24/01/2011]
Full details
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
Available free on Cairn.info
NAPOLEONICA ARCHIVES ONLINE
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Autumn opening hours
Situated at 148 boulevard Haussmann, 75008 Paris, the library is open on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, from 1pm – 6pm, and Thursday 10am - 3pm.
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