Finding Napoleon in Montreal

In September, I spent three days in Montreal immersing myself in Napoleon Bonaparte with the Napoleonic Historical Society. As usual, the society’s annual conference was informative and entertaining. This year, the speakers covered a broad range of topics from war to art to political marriage to dueling etiquette. They examined Napoleon’s influence beyond France and Europe to its effects on the United States, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Of course, the camaraderie makes the event really special.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Due to the Montreal location, we got to visit the Napoleonic Collection at the city’s Museum of Fine Arts. This compact exhibit fills a room with art and artifacts from the period. For me, Denzil Ibbetson’s striking painting of Napoleon Bonaparte on his deathbed, which I first saw last year when it was on tour in Richmond, Virginia, was a highlight.

But, the focus of the collection falls on this grand bust of “The Apotheosis of Napoleon.” As proof of Napoleon’s international allure, a Scotsman commissioned it from the Danish-born sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen in 1829. Thorvaldsen, whose studio was in Rome, had created the tomb of Pope Pius VII for St Peter’s Basilica. The museum’s description tells us, “he created a monumental work in his typical neo-classical style, a skilful combination of austerity and archaism. The Emperor is idealized. Majestic, borne up by the eagle of victory and the palm branches of glory…”

(In case you too are wondering, I looked up archaism. It means what I thought it did: “deliberate use of a style characteristic of an earlier age.”)

While that grand three-foot-high bust dominates the room, this mundane riding boot touches my heart. It’s also more rare than a marble bust of Napoleon. Aside from a pair of boots in Napoleon and Josephine’s home, the Chateau de Malmaison, it’s the only boot in the world that’s authenticated as belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte. Its creator was simply “Jacques, bootmaker.”

What’s Interesting About Napoleon

Always, the annual Napoleonic Historical Society conference reminds me how many aspects of Napoleon there are to study. Personally, I’m most interested in the art he influenced, the time he spent on St Helena, and who he was as a person.

So, a museum room that holds a Napoleon statue, plus a deathbed painting that an eye-witness rendered on St Helena, and a personal item Napoleon Bonaparte wore? That covers all the bases.