Napoleon III

Finding Napoleon’s “Ashes” in Paris 179 Years Ago

May 30, 2020
The Retour des Cendres of Napoleon I on December 15, 1840 in Paris, by Jacques Guiaud (1811-1876), from Chateau de Versailles

France After Napoleon’s Death: Even after Napoleon Bonaparte died in 1821, he still threatened the kings of Europe. By declaring himself an emperor, Napoleon had undermined the hereditary “divine right of kings.” Worse, he installed liberal, secular constitutions throughout Europe. And everywhere, Napoleon spread the French Revolution’s concept of “merit over birthright.” So Louis XVIII …

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Finding Napoleon Bonaparte in Baltimore

June 8, 2020
Napoleon 1814, by Jean-Louis Ernest Meisonnier, Walters Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, photo by Margaret Rodenberg

Last November I posted about Ernest Meissonier’s paintings of Napoleon Bonaparte. This month I came across another of Meissonier’s paintings (shown above) in the Walters Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. It depicts a sad but stoic Napoleon at the end of his reign. Meissonier painted his images of Napoleon Bonaparte fifty years after the emperor’s defeat. …

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