In November, 2012, I took a break from writing about Napoleon to travel in Southeast Asia, visiting Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. It was primarily a bicycling trip, and, I assure you, my equipment was higher quality than what you see above in the photo snapped in the picturesque fields of Vietnam. Here’s another method […]
Finding Napoleon in Southeast Asia Read More »
This portrait of Napoleon, painted in 1812 before the Emperor’s departure on the disastrous Russian expedition, is one of my favorites. The Duke of Hamilton, who, as a Stuart, considered himself the rightful heir to the Scottish throne, commissioned Jacques-Louis David to paint it. It hangs now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC,
Napoleon at the National Gallery in Washington, DC Read More »
As far back as Corsican records go, Napoleon’s family signed their name “Bonaparte.” In 1759, Napoleon’s father, Carlo, in his quest to establish hereditary links to Tuscan nobility, changed to the Italian “Buonoparte” form. Ten years later, his second son, Napoleon, was born under that surname. Because Carlo had succeeded in establishing the family’s noble
Bonaparte or Buonaparte? Read More »
As I wrote in an earlier post, the Corsican assembly, in 1793, voted unanimously “to inflict on the individuals making up [the family] Bonaparte an eternal brand that renders their name and their memory detestable to [all Corsican] patriots.” Six years later, however, during a stopover on Napoleon’s return from the Egyptian campaign, the Corsicans
Bonapartes banished from Corsica and France Read More »
On August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, Corsica, the Archdeacon Lucien Buonaparte celebrated the festival of the Virgin Mary, the town’s patron saint. Young Letizia Buonaparte, interrupting her devotions, hurried home to give birth to her second son. The boy was named Napoleon after an uncle who had died several months earlier while fighting in vain
Happy Birthday, Emperor Napoleon Read More »
In June 1812, Emperor Napoleon marched from Paris with one of the greatest armies ever raised. By the end of the year, what started out as 600,000 troops had dwindled to the mere 25,000 who made it home alive. One can blame disease, a severe winter, and the Russian scorched earth policy for hundreds of
200th Anniversary of the Russian Campaign Read More »
Napoleon’s first wife Josephine was born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie in Martinique on June 23, 1763. If you could ask her, however, she’d probably lie and tell you her birth year was 1767, which was what she wrote on her marriage documents. Napoleon also lied on those documents, saying he, too, had
Happy Birthday, Empress Josephine! Read More »
For three months I’ve neglected this blog while I concentrated on my novel, usually working on it eight to twelve hours a day. Now the story is complete start to finish, and has been through several drafts. I’m in the process of getting critiques from my writing group and other expert readers. Earlier this spring,
Viewing Original Napoleon Manuscript Read More »
In March of last year, I was in Paris and Corsica, gathering inspiration at Napoleonic sites. In May, my St Helena trip rounded out my first-hand impressions of Napoleon from youth to dying exile. Now, as I near completion of a draft of my novel, I reflect on what depth those experiences have lent to
Napoleonic Paris and Environs Slideshow Read More »
Today, I visited the “Royalists to Romantics” exhibit at the National Museum of the Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. The collection of seventy paintings on loan from the Louvre, Versailles, and other French museums were all produced by women between 1750 and 1850, a time when women artists were marginalized. One of the
Napoleon Portrait Painted by a Woman Read More »
