Napoleonic Links from St Helena to Cuba As I posted in June 2011, Napoleon Bonaparte isn’t the only thing interesting about St Helena Island. After all, Napoleon’s exile, which ran from 1815 to 1821, only accounts for a moment in the island’s 500-year history. So this past year, when I wrote an article about links …
Finding Napoleon in Virginia Again The Napoleon Bonaparte exhibit at Richmond’s Museum of Fine Arts brought together exquisite artifacts, each fascinating in its own right. As a collection, they tell a visual story of Napoleon’s meteoric rise to power. Here are three pieces that touch on Napoleon Bonaparte’s early career: Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte as …
Napoleon: The Imperial Household Exhibit at the VMFA A fabulous exhibit of art and artifacts from Napoleon Bonaparte’s various households has been visiting the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. It’s moving on to Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (October 19, 2018 – March 3, 2019) and then to the Chateau de Fontainbleau (April 3, …
Who knew one of the world’s great Napoleonic museums is in Cuba? Surprisingly, Havana’s Museo Napoleónico contains the Western Hemisphere’s largest collection of artifacts associated with Napoleon Bonaparte. Thanks to the Napoleonic Historical Society, I got to visit it. The collection belonged to Julio Lobo (1898 – 1983), Cuba’s richest sugar cane magnate. Lobo, who …
I actually was in Oregon because of Napoleon Bonaparte. You see, that’s where the Historical Novel Society held this year’s conference. It’s a historical novelist’s dream: a hotel full of five hundred people, all fascinated with previous eras. It’s a joyous celebration of camaraderie, craft and commerce. It’s a chance for would-be authors to pitch …
May 21st is St Helena Day, when the local population celebrates the remote island’s discovery in 1502. For the 4,500 residents, it’s a big holiday with speeches, parades and picnics. I haven’t found any historical record of Napoleon Bonaparte joining in the festivities during his exile there. In all likelihood, he preferred that the place …
Finding Napoleon (and Shakespeare) on St Helena Day Read More »
Whenever I travel, I’m on the lookout for signs of Napoleon Bonaparte’s influence. I didn’t expect to find any on a recent trip to Costa Rica and Panama, but there’s a statue of his great-nephew in Panama City. In 1877, Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte Wyse, the grandson of Emperor Napoleon’s brother Lucien, obtained the first agreement from …
In this election season when Americans are focused on winners and losers, I came across two relevant paintings of Napoleon Bonaparte. The first shows the Emperor in 1807 at the height of his power. The second shows the Emperor seven years later in the midst of failure. Ernest Meissonier painted them during France’s Second Empire …
For your amusement, a comic strip “honoring” Napoleon Bonaparte on the anniversary of man’s July 20, 1969 landing on the moon: Napoleon Bonaparte: it’s hard to keep a determined man in check. 🙂 Thank you, XKCD.com.
Portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte by Ingres As I explained in my last post, in general, the Spanish aren’t fans of Napoleon Bonaparte. In fact, I didn’t find a single portrait of Napoleon in the Prado Museum’s huge collection. The Prado was, however, hosting a travelling exhibition of works by the French painter Ingres (1780-1867). There …
