FINDING NAPOLEON IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

Twice in two days this month, Napoleon Bonaparte made news in the New York Times. I’m not sure how much he would have appreciated either article.

Napoleon Bonaparte as Cultural Icon

In a clash of new and old, current icons Beyoncé and Jay-Z filmed their latest music video in the Louvre Museum. They and their cast sing, dance and pose in front of the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and, of course, David’s brilliant painting of Napoleon’s coronation. Prudish Napoleon would have been appalled at the dancers’ outfits. After all, he objected to the sleeveless, sheer muslin dresses his wife Josephine brought into fashion.

Personally, I found it poignant to see the Present strutting its stuff in front of the Past. It’s the very definition of “iconoclastic.”

Napoleon’s Waterloo Hat at Auction

In other news, one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s bicorn hats fetched $400,000 at an auction in Lyons, France. Supposedly, Napoleon dropped this one at the Battle of Waterloo, perhaps as he fled to avoid capture.

How much would that hat have been worth if the Emperor had won at Waterloo? Britian’s Duke of Wellington himself called his victory there “the nearest run thing you ever saw.” In exile on St Helena, Napoleon often debated why he’d lost. He tended to chalk it up to his Generals Ney and Grouchy, to his own loss of confidence, and, ultimately, to Destiny.

Oceans of ink have been spilt on the topic. But how much would a French victory have mattered? Certainly, the British, Austrians and Russians would have suffered a major setback. However, it’s unlikely they would have given up. Even if Napoleon had prevailed at Waterloo, isolated weakened France couldn’t have held its enemies at bay for much longer.

Nonetheless, these two articles demonstrate that 203 years after Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte’s still important to our culture. At the very least, in the words of the New York Times, “the French emperor continues to fascinate collectors and curators across the globe.”