Murano near Venice - a tourist's dream.

Vaporetto
Murano Glass

Murano consists of 7 individual islands in a lagoon north of Venice, linked together by beautiful bridges. Travel to Murano from Ven­ice by public vapor­etto, then walk the island canals and visit the beautiful build­ings on each side of the Grand Canal on foot. Have lunch outside any restaurant that is facing the Canal. 

Let’s start at the start. Murano made its living from fishing and salt. In the Roman Empire moulded glass was made in Venice, the indus­try blending Roman experience with skills learned from the Byz­ant­ine Empire and trade with the Or­ient. Thus Venice was emerging as a glass-manufacturing centre as early as the C8th.

Initially a church devoted to the Virgin Mary was built in the C7th then rebuilt tw­ice. Apparently Emp­eror Otto I’s ship was caught by a strong Adriatic storm so he vowed to build a church dedic­at­ed to the Virgin. The st­orm stopped, and Otto saw an apparition that directed him to Murano. He built a church con­sec­rated in 957 and the slim cam­p­­anile/bell tower that stood apart. Both the church and the camp­anile were built of unplastered dark-brown-red brick.

Santa Maria and San Donato Cathedral

Trip Advisor 

Note a beautiful square sur­rounded by smaller historical buildings. Note the eastern fac­ade, which faced a canal, was de­­corated with special colon­n­ades to cr­eate a magnificent first imp­res­sion. But why was it called St Donato, a man who did not have any conn­ection to the Venetian lagoon. Ven­etians used to buy important relics and bring them home from their travels, to earn authority in intern­at­­ion­al rel­at­ions and tourism. The relics of St Donato, and the huge bones said to belong to the dragon slain by St Donato, were brought to Murano in 1125. Fights between the St Ma­r­ia and St Stefano par­ish­es were har­sh, lasting until 1125 when Doge Domenico Michele streng­th­ened the Santa Maria church by storing St Donato’s rel­ics in a mar­ble sarcophagus. Since then, the church was devoted to St Don­ato! To celebrate, a col­our­­ful stone mosaic floor in Byzantine style was made in c1140. The is­land only has 3 working churches now.

When did the Glassmakers’ Guild become important on the island? The Guild laid out craft­smen’s rules, to safe­guard the trade secrets and en­s­ure the in­dustry’s profits, and a 1271 law prohib­it­ed the imp­ort of foreign glass or employment of foreign workers. A tougher law was passed in 1291, requiring all glassmaking furnaces be moved to Murano, to avoid fire spreading over Venice’s dense wooden structures.

Because of Venice’s location at the cultural bridge between Eastern and Western trade, the city’s glass peaked in popul­ar­ity in the C15th-C16th. The popularity of Chinese porcelain among Eur­opean nob­ility fuel­led a white-glass-mimicking-porcelain industry. Moneyed families starte­d to create palaces for themselves. Examine eg Pal­azzo da Mula, a medieval palace featuring the gothic façade and Byz­ant­ine déco­r­ation that was so popular in Venetian architecture. In the C16th the noble Mula fam­ily rebuilt the original build­ing to a large extent. It is still a very imp­ressive municip­al registry office today.

Palazzo da Mula

Wiki

Another patrician palace in typical gothic style became the Palace of the Bishops of Torcello in 1659, just as reb­uilding was being car­ried out based on plans by architect Antonio Gasp­ari. When in 1805 Torcel­lo Diocese was abolished, the palace pas­s­ed to the Venice Patriarchate then sold to the Murano Mun­icipality to become the townhall. When the museum and archives were established in 1861, they were both housed on the 1st floor. But the steady growth of the collection made it necess­ary to find more space and so grad­ual­ly the museum occupied the whole palace. 

After the autonomous Murano Municipality was abol­ished in 1923 and annexed to Venice, the building became part of the Venice Civic Mu­seums. Visit the Murano Museum of Glass which was ren­ov­ated in 2016, although the exterior has rem­ained true to the original.

Ven­et­ian power on the trade routes reduced and new craft centres em­erged in Bohemia and Fr­ance instead. But while Murano glass might have entered a gradual decline in the C17th, this was also an era of baroque taste that spread via European architecture, painting and int­erior de­c­­oration. At least royal courts continued to order glass­ware.

But in the C18th the political climate worsened. The industry suffered with Napol­eon’s con­quest of Venice in 1797 and his abolition of Ven­ice’s guilds. In 1814, the transfer of Venice from France to the Hab­s­burg Em­pire created anot­h­er crisis for Mur­ano’s economy; Habs­burg rul­ers pre­ferred their own art centres in Bohemia so they passed laws mak­ing it ex­pensive to bring neces­sary raw materials into Murano.

Art glass from Murano

Pinterest

In 1861 Ven­ic­e’s mayor built an Archive ded­ic­ated to both the writings and the objects prod­uced. There was an Archive Exhibition (1864) and then intern­at­ional shows followed eg the 1867 Univer­s­al Exposit­ion in Paris where Salviati exhib­it­ed 500+ works made by his firm to in­ter­nat­ion­al acclaim. This publicity led to com­­plete revival of Mur­ano, empl­oy­ing 3,500 people by 1870. The Murano & Ven­ice Exhib­ition of Choice Glass Obj­ects in 1895 in Murano City Hall was success­ful, as were the Paris Univ­er­sal Exposit­ion in 1900, fol­l­ow­ed by Exp­os­itions of Turin’s Decorative Arts in 1902 and Milan’s in 1906.

Coloured houses along the canal 

Italia.It

Many residents on Murano painted their houses in bright neon hues. The homeowners said that the tradition of brightly coloured homes stemmed from the island's origins as a fishing village i.e they used vibrant colours so they could find their way home in the dark and the fog. This made sense since Murano didn’t have the mega-wealthy class of the glory days of Venice. Nonetheless the same bright houses on the canals these days are largely to draw tourists.

 

History of Venetian glass from Murano. Now in a special Melbourne exhibition

The origins of glassmaking in Venice go back to the times of the Roman Empire when moulded glass was used for illumination in bathhouses. Blending Roman experience with the skills learned from the Byzantine Empire and trade with the Orient, Venice emerged as a major glass-manufacturing centre as early as the C8th. One of the earliest furnaces for glass was found on a Venetian island!

By the late 1200s, high quality glass objects became the city’s major industry. So the Glassmakers Guild laid out craftsmen’s rules, to safeguard the trade secrets and en­s­ure the in­dustry’s profits. A 1271 law prohib­it­ed the imp­ort of foreign glass or the employment of foreign glass workers. An even more rad­ical law was passed in 1291, requiring that all furnaces used for glassmaking be moved from Venice to Murano Island, to avoid the risk of fire spreading onto over-populated Venice’s wooden structures. A law passed in 1295 forbade glassmakers from leaving the city.

 Venetian cristallo glass, 1580 

Perhaps because of Venice’s location at the crossroads of trade, as the cultural bridge between East and West, the city’s glass reached the peak of its popularity in the C15th and C16th. In the C15th, master Angelo Barovier discovered the process for making clear glass/cristallo that allowed Murano glass mak­ers to become the only mirror makers in Europe. And the popularity of Chinese porcelain among European nobility fuelled discovery and production of the white glass mimicking porcelain/lattimo.

New glassmaking techniques became popular eg enamelling and gild­ing glass, which originated in the Middle East, filigrana glass which is made using glass rods with inner threads of white, golden or coloured glass that twisted or ice glass which appeared finely crackled. Shapes and colours increased in variety.

But Murano glass went into a gradual decline in the C17th. As Venetian power on the trade routes reduced, so did its mon­­opoly power in glass­making; new centres of the craft emerged in Bohemia and France instead. Yet the C17th was also a period of strong baroque trends that spread via European architecture, painting and interior decoration.

Venetian (C16th revival) amber glass carafe 

made by Salviati in c1880
with applied floral paterae to either side 

Brightly coloured, intricate glass decorations with floral and an­imal motives became popular. New glass techniques included metal flecks embedded for sparkles and illusion of semiprecious stones, raised decorations on glass and millefiori beads. These new tech­niques were so success­ful that royal courts like King Frederick IV of Denmark ordered glassware from Murano artisans.

In the C18th, there was a worsening political climate and increased competition from Bohemian and French glass makers. New techniques were introduced eg engraving on glassware and mirrors, but they made little impact. The industry reduced further with Napoleon’s con­quest of Venice in 1797 and his abolition of Venice’s guilds.

In 1814, the transfer of Venice from France to the Habsburg Empire created another crisis for Murano glassmaking as Habs­burg rulers preferred their native glassmaking centre in Bohemia; they passed laws making it expensive to bring neces­sary raw materials into Murano and export the final product. As a result, only 5 furnaces in Murano continued to produce blown glass by 1820.

The industry didn’t die completely. But the breakthrough didn’t come until 1854 when six Toso Brothers opened the firm Fratelli Toso that produced household glass items. Five years later Antonio Salviati moved to Venice to open a factory dedicated to tradit­ional Murano glass. He wanted to produce tiles that could restore old Venet­ian mosaics and he hired the best Murano masters to work in his factory.

Venetian authorities signed a 15-year contract with Sal­viati’s firm for restoration of the mosaics in St Mark’s basilica. In 1861, Venice’s mayor Antonio Colleoni built an Archive ded­ic­ated to both the writings and the objects of art prod­uced in Venice. Building the archive caused renewed interest in Venice’s history and its glorious past. And prompted officials to set up a proper school for glassmakers.

There was an Archive Exhibition (1864) and then internat­ional shows followed eg the highly successful Universal Exposition in Paris in 1867 where Salviati exhibited 500+ works made by his firm and received international acclaim. This publicity led to com­­plete revival of Murano, employing 3,500 people by 1870. And the well attended Murano and Ven­ice Exhibition of Choice Glass and Glass Objects was staged in 1895 inside Murano City Hall.

The first Venice Biennial Ex­hib­ition (1895) showed new works of art in the Art Nouveau style. This highlighted the gap between the modern trends gaining strength in Europe then and the works of Murano artisans who were somewhat foc­used on the past. This gap became even more obvious at the Univ­er­sal Exposit­ion in Paris in 1900, followed by Expositions of Decorative Arts in Turin in 1902 and Milan in 1906. The Art Nou­veau style was becoming more popular.

In the 1920s, Art Nouveau was replaced by more modern styles with simpler and more functional designs. Art Deco gave more focus on glassware as part of an overall interior design, not as a piece of art in itself. A new company, founded in 1921 under Vittorio Zecchin as its head designer, championed the style.

Sommerso glass vase, tricolour

c1950, 11” high. 

Important 1930s innovations were production of glass stat­ues of female nudes, classical figures of gods, and eng­raving on glass and modern lighting fix­tures. During WW2 the glass industry did not thrive, but after the war the Murano makers returned & created pieces reflecting modern interior design trends: minimalism, funct­ionality, simplicity. Sommerso i.e sub­merged was a technique used to create several layers of glass with contrasting colours inside a single object. It was and is beautiful.

Liquid Light: 500 Years of Venetian Glass draws upon the National Gallery of Victoria’s extensive holdings of Venetian glass, rang­ing in date from the C16th-20th. The NGV’s Collections are very rich in material from the C19th revival of the glass ind­ustry on Murano Island. This Melbourne Exhibition continues un­til 12th July 2020.

Was Beethoven inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte?

Intellectuals th­roughout Europe looked on Napoleon as a hero at first, including German artists such as Goethe. As a youth, Ludwig von Beet­­hoven (1770-1827) was attracted by the ideals of the French Rev­ol­ution. His early writing was scattered with revolut­ion­ary sentim­ents and disdain for organised religion. Thanks to Christopher George and Alexander Lee for their excellent articles.

When Beethoven moved to Vienna to study with Franz Joseph Hay­dn, he took his views with him. However since a police state existed in Aus­tria in the 1790s, Beethoven knew not to flagrantly display his sup­p­ort for the revolutionary movement there. Afterall, Beet­hoven was still a German provincial from Bonn.

So as he gained fame as a composer in his own right, his democratic fervour was abating. Welcomed to the Viennese nob­il­ity’s salons, Beethoven adapted himself to his patrons’ tastes. He put on aristo­c­rat­ic airs, claimed descent from an old baronial family and adopt­ed the nobiliary particle “von”. Though he remained a passionate defender of liberty and secularism, the composer now believed that the French Rev­ol­ution had gone too far. He too regarded the Reign of Terror with horror.

By 1800, Beethoven was traumatised to realise that his deafness was worsening. In April 1802, Beethoven left Vienna for Heiligenstadt, a village near Vienna. The Heilig­enstadt Test­am­ent was an emotional document in which Beethoven placed himself as a hero, stricken by deaf­ness, with­drawn from mankind, conquering suic­ide.

But surrounded by nature, he recovered and found a new sense of musical purpose. Wandering in the country, he toyed with a theme in E flat major and soon had a comp­letely new symphony in mind – original and triumphalist.

3rd Sym­ph­ony Eroica by Beethoven

Classic FM

Against his personal anguish, the composer showed his politics. This 3rd Sym­ph­ony Eroica was one of a series of planned dedications to en­light­ened lead­ers in 1800-4. While Beethoven was labouring over the score, he decided to name the symphony after Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821), then First Consul of France.

According to the composer’s biographer Anton Schindler, the link to Napoleon had first been sugg­est­ed by Jean-Baptiste Ber­nadotte, French ambassador to Aust­ria. But accord­ing to Beet­hoven’s pupil Ferdinand Ries, the idea was the compos­er’s own. As Ries ex­plained, Beethoven had the high­est esteem for Napoleon, like the greatest consuls of ancient Rome. When the score was finished in early 1804, he wrote Symphony For Bonaparte on the cover and proudly left the manuscript on a table for all to see.

Courtyard of Beethoven's house 

Heiligenstädt near Vienna, 1802.

Poor Beethoven. Not long after finishing his symphony, Ries came to him with news that Napoleon had declared himself Emperor of France (May 1804) and was crowned (in Dec). Beet­hoven flew into a rage, shouting: So he is no more than a common mortal! Now he will think himself superior to all men and become a tyrant!’ Beet­hoven strode over to the score and scribbled out the title so violently that he tore through pap­er.

This event gave rise to an image of Beethoven as a lover of lib­er­ty, an admirer of the French Revolution and a repub­lic­an. Having once admired Napoleon as the god of revolutionary princ­ip­les, the composer later re­viled him for sacrif­icing those very principles.

Ries’ version was suspect be­cause he wrote down his rem­iniscences years later. Schind­ler’s claim that the idea of naming the sym­phony after Napoleon had been suggested by Bernadotte was clearly false. Though Bernadotte had indeed served as the Fren­ch ambassador to Austria, he had quit his post in dis­grace in 1798 and left. In any case Schindler was a known democrat, who destroyed or doctored many of Beethoven’s papers after the comp­os­er’s death. 

Beethoven wrote to his pub­lish­er, disapp­oint­ed that Nap­oleon had concluded a concor­dat with Pope Pius VII and thereby shatt­ered the sep­ar­at­ion-of-Church-and-state dream. Yet Beet­hoven saw Napol­eon as a necessary correct­ive for the excesses of the Revolution, produc­ing political order out of chaos. Napoleon knew how to keep a firm hold, plus he had an appreciation for art and science.

So it was for practical and financial reasons that the com­poser no longer publicly acknowledged Napoleon as the inspir­at­ion for the symphony. He removed Napoleon’s name so as not to lose the patronage of a noble who had been scan­dalised by the Fren­chman’s actions. Note Beethoven dedicated the Eroica to Prince Joseph von Lobkowicz, who had given him 400 ducats for the rights to the music and who later became one of his most ardent supporters.

The symphony received its first private perf­ormance in Dec 1804 at Prince Lobkowitz's palace. It would not have been politically wise for him to have retained an identification with Napoleon. War with France was once again looming, so pat­riotic Lobkowitz raised a battalion of troops against the French. Austria was an implacable foe to Napoleon, at war with France for 13.5 years!!

The first public performance of Eroica Symphony took place in Vienna in Apr 1805 with Beethoven himself conducting. The work did not please the public who thought the symphony too heavy and too long. Refusing to modify the score, Er­oica remained Beethoven’s personal favourite.

The composer admired Bonaparte as a Republican con­sul, but may have thought he could not tolerate him as an auto­crat. Yet Beethoven did not turn­ his back on the Imperial family. In 1808 Napoleon’s broth­er, King Jerome Bonaparte of Westphalia, offered the composer 600 gold ducats a year to serve as Kap­ell­meister to the Court of Kassel!

In taking the pos­ition, Beethoven would have continued a family tradition. [The compos­er's grand father, Ludovicus van Beethoven, had been Kap­ellmeister to the Elector of Col­ogne in 1733]. But before young Ludwig could accept tainted Bona­part­e money, Viennese Archduke Rudolph offered Beethoven 4,000 florins a year.

It was only after Napoleon crushed Austria in the War of the 5th Coalition 1809 that Beethoven’s enthusiasm ended. Shaken by the French bombardment of Vienna and fearful of being compromised by a Bonaparte association, he rep­udiated Napoleon! Contempt grew as the emperor ranged across Europe like a conqueror, especially in Vienna. Beet­hoven was now identified liberty with Germanic patriotism. 

Shortly before the Emperor's exile on Elba, the composer sided with the Allies. So he wrote a short orchestral work celeb­rating Emp­eror's nemesis, Duke of Wellington, in 1813. The Battle of Vitoria Symphony celebrated the decisive British victory over Napoleon's troops in Spain in June 1813, and became Beet­hoven­'s greatest comm­ercial suc­cess. Beethoven dedicated Wellington's Victory to Britain’s Prince Regent and sent him an engraved copy of the score.

Martello towers and maritime forts across the globe

The first Martello Tower I ever saw was on a tour of Saint John in Canada, as we will see. But I have relied on LW Cowie for more detailed information.

These curved forts first spread across Europe, inspired by the Genovese defence system at Mortella Point in Corsica. Built from 1565 on, Corsican coastal towers were built to protect the villages from brutal Barbary-coast pirates. The towers and their watchmen were paid for by local villagers, and whenever a pirate threat was seen, watchmen alerted the locals by lighting a fire on the tower’s roof. Later the Genovese built another generation of circular towers, used against other foreign invasions.

Although close to the French coast, the island of Jersey wanted to remain British and thus constantly feared French invasion via the coastal bays. In 1779 there was an unsuccessful French attack in St Ouen’s Bay and in 1781, hundreds of French troops landed and marched on the capital, St Helier. Strengthening coastal defences became a priority. The Governor of Jersey planned to build 30 round towers to protect the island's coast line, a’ la Corsica. Although Jersey did get 22 of its towers, it took the British Navy years to realise what their defensive value might be. Some surviv­ing Jersey towers are now used as exhibition space for adjacent wildlife conservation areas.

Portelet Tower, Jersey

built in 1808 on a tidal island

Carleton Martello Canada interior, now a museum.

A guard room for 13 men, their beds, a dining table and a cannon.

In 1793 the British government received an appeal from General Pasquale de Paoli, the leader of the Corsican insurgents who were fighting against French troops. British ships were sent there but the only secure anchorage in the Gulf of San Fiorenzo was commanded by a stone tower. To defeat the French in 1794, the Mortella Point fort was captured by the land-based British military forces, largely because the Corsican’s cannons were facing seaward and couldn't change direction fast enough. When the British withdrew in 1803 they blew up the tower, leaving a wreck. But they liked the Corsican fort and went on to replicate the design at home.

How quickly they were needed! Early in 1805, a series of strong sites were being built along the Irish and English coast-lines, to defend against Napoleon’s army lined up across the Channel. By the time the Napol­eon­ic threat ended in 1815, 103 English towers were fully funct­ion­ing, mainly on S.E and Sth coasts. You can still see 45 of them in Essex and Suffolk etc to­day. Two supporting forts were built at Dymch­urch in Kent (now a museum) and Eastbourne in East Sussex.

In Ireland, they were concentrated around Dublin Bay, and Cork Harbour on the south coast. The West Cork islands of Garnish, Glengarriff and Bere, along Ireland's southwest coastline, have intact towers that can still be easily visited.

Carrick Hill Martello, Ireland

Built in 1805

The British towers were c40’ in height and were 2-3 storeys high. The thick round walls of solid stone­work had two great advant­ages. 1] they were very resistant to enemy cannon fire and 2] the garrison of men who lived there had complete 360 degree views from inside.

The wide roofs made a solid base to hold a rotating cannon on a pivot. Martellos used the ground floor as a stockroom where supplies of ammunition, food and water were kept; a cistern within the fort provided rain water. The first floor provided accommod­ation for 24 men plus 1 officer, plus a separate room for cooking. Fireplaces were built into the wall on the first floor for heating, bathing and cooking.

The Channel Islands had fortifications that included castles, forts, Martello towers, artillery batteries and seawalls. These is­lands were the only part of British soil to be occupied by the Ger­mans during WW2 and German soldiers quickly realised that the towers could be adapted for their own defence. The Martello tower at Fort Saumerez on Guernsey, for example, had a German Observation tower added during WW2 and the tower at Bel Royal Jersey was strengthened by a concrete bunker.

Guernsey Martello Tower

Refortified by German soldiers during WW2

Martello towers were built in Canada (Halifax, Saint John, Québec City and Kingston) during violent times with the USA, particularly the 1812 War. The Carleton Martello Tower in Saint John New Brunswick survived, featuring a restored powder magazine, restored barracks and museum exhibition spaces. The tower's roof has a perfect view of Saint John’s city and its harbour.

Of Halifax’s five towers in Nova Scotia, visitors can see the Prince of Wales Tower, the oldest round fort in North America. It was built in 1796 and was used as a powder magaz­ine. Restored, it too is a National Heritage site. The Duke of York Tower was built in 1798. The Duke of Clarence Martello Tower stood on the Dartmouth shore.

Of Quebec’s four Martello towers, Tower #1 stands on the Plains of Abraham, overlooking the St Lawrence River. It has been restored as a summer museum.

Six Martello towers were built at Kingston Ontario to defend its har­bour and naval shipyards during the Oregon Boundary Crisis. Murney Tower and the tower at Point Frederick, once serving against marine att­acks, are now summer museums. Fort Frederick Ontario had the most highly structured def­en­c­es: earthen ramparts and a limestone curtain wall. The Shoal Tower, the only tower surrounded by water, stood in Kingston's Confederation Basin. Cath­cart Tower, the 4th tower, stood on Cedar Island near Point Henry. The Oregon Boundary Crisis might have ended quickly, but the American Civil War made the Canadians fearful again. So the towers once again got armed up.

The last Martello tower in the British Empire was in Australia; Fort Denison, built on a small island in the centre of Sydney Harbour. Construction began in 1839 when two American warships crept into Sydney Harbour. The threat of foreign attack made the government carefully examine the harbour's limited defences. Re-construction in 1855 again provided Sydney with naval protect­ion, this time against the threat of a naval attack by Russians dur­ing the Crimean War (ended 1856). Fort Denison still enjoys 360 degree views of Sydney and operates as a museum and gun powder store.

Defensive towers in the USA were concentrated on the east coast. They were built in the harbours of Portsmouth in New Hampshire, Charleston in South Carolina, Key West in Florida and one or two others that did not survive. Although the Key West towers were constructed with different building materials and in a different design from those in Britain and Canada, the Garden Club (west tower) and the Museum (east tower) were added to the nation's National Register of Historic Places.

Napoleon's last stand in 1815: Waterloo

Let me quote from the excellent Napoleon’s Last Stand paper, written by historian Jean-Noel Bregeon.  Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, skilfully managed to expel Emperor Napoleon from Portugal in 1811 and won decisive victories against the French in Spain in 1813. After the French Grand Army’s ruinous attempt to invade Russia, Allied forces invaded France from all sides in 1813.

The French Empire was weakening, damaging the Emperor’s plans for European domination. By April 1814 it looked as if the anti-French Allies had succeeded. Napoleon abdicated and was exiled to the Italian island of Elba; Bourbon King Louis XVIII was restored to power instead.

Napoleon was not a prisoner on Elba; he was granted sov­er­eignty of the island plus an armed guard. A flow of intell­igence from French informants & letters helped him secretly plan for his future. Even from Elba, Napoleon knew the Bourbon government was unpopular and by May 1814, he expected he would be sent for... to "tranquilise" France.

Then in Feb 1815, Europe received a shock: the audacious Nap­ol­­eon escaped from Elba and sailed for France. It is hard to over­-estimate the horror this news provoked. Many nations feared that Napol­eon’s escape would restart French imperial expansion, and re-plunge Europe into war.

In spring 1815 British, Prussian, Austrian and Russian forces re-­grouped as Napoleon again mobilised the French army. A last, epic showdown loomed. This time Nap­oleon faced a coalition of nations led by his old skilled adversary, the Duke of Wellington.

In March, Napoleon reached Paris with the applause of the masses in his ears. Despite his claims to want peace, the Allies were wary. Together they signed what amounted to a declaration of war.

Events moved swiftly, and the restored French emperor had little time to organise. With enemy armies massing on France’s northern frontiers, he tried to organise a vol­un­teer force to supplement the standing army. Even so, the French army was a fearful opponent. Its troops were ex­perienced fighters, and its commander still inspired passionate loyalty.

Napoleon’s Return to France, painted by Charles Steuben in  1818. 

Wiki

The Allied forces consisted of British, Prussian and other troops who were divided into detachments. British command­er, the Duke of Wellington, patiently decided to wait for the enemy to attack rather than force their hand.

Brimming with confidence, Napoleon was planning for a decisive victory. Ignoring advice to postpone engagement with the enemy, he left Paris on 12th June 1815 to join his army in Belgium where Welling­ton’s and Gebhard von Blücher’s troops lay in wait. On 14th June Napoleon proclaimed: “The honour and happiness of our country are at stake; Frenchmen, the moment has arrived when we must conqueror or die!”

A double battle took place on 16th June in Quatre-Bras and Ligny; both were French victories, although neither was a fatal blow to Napoleon’s enemies. On 17th June, heavy rains soaked the ground and the French soldiers. The wet fields and muddy roads became a swampy mess.

At dawn on 18th June, Wellington and Napoleon organised their for­c­es. Wellington set up his headquarters in Mont-Saint-Jean, not far from Waterloo. He had de­ployed most of his 68,000 troops along a long ridge with three farms. The British commander stuck to his def­ensive tactic, knowing he needed to wait for Blücher’s detachments (c50,000 men) to arrive. After the clash at Ligny, Blücher with­drew to Wavre, closer to Waterloo.

Napoleon’s camp was in the village of Maison du Roi. Because Fren­ch forces totalled c72,000 men, Napoleon hoped to take advantage of the distance between the Prussians and the British, to quickly destroy Well­ington’s forces. The emperor believed that victory was within his grasp! But the emperor’s plan was thwarted by the mud and fog, which prevented an early start. Nap­oleon believed that had it not rained, he would have quickly de­feated the Allied army, before the Prussians arrived.

But none of the French attacks breached the front. The Allied infantry, especially the British, showed determined resil­ience in facing the French onslaught. As a result, some formations suffered unpreced­ented losses e.g the Inniskilling Regiment lost two-thirds of its men in 45 minutes.

The strain was becoming intolerable on Wellington. He desperately awaited news of Blücher’s arrival so that the Prussians could save them. At 4 PM Blücher’s forces started to attack the French flanks but the danger for Well­ington was not over yet. One farmhouse fell to the French at 6 PM. An hour later, the allied forces faced the terrifying charge from the Imperial Guard, the force Napol­eon always reserved to decide bat­tles. The Emperor thought the Imperial Guard would break the Allies, but he miscalculated. He had to send several regiments of his Imperial Guard to fight the Prussians, men who were sorely missed by their comrades during the final push. As they charged, Allied gunfire ripped them apart. The Imperial Guard faltered and the French troops scattered in terror-filled retreat.

Wellington at Waterloo, by Robert Hillingford, 

Musée Wellington, Waterloo.

At 8:15 PM Napoleon ordered a retreat, once he realised the mortal blow had been struck. But the Allies’ victory came at a heavy cost. Historians estim­ated Wellington’s casualties c15,000 and Blücher’s at c8,000. Napoleon suffered c25,000 casualties and 9,000 Frenchmen were captured. Wellington was overwhelmed by the loss of life.

Napoleon immediately returned to Paris where he abdicated in favour of his son on 22th June. A month after the battle, Napoleon gave himself up to the British, who banished him to St Helena, a mid-Atlantic island. The Napoleonic Era was over for good.

**

Yet... yet....whilst on Elba, Napoleon knew the Bourbon government was unpopular and that he would have to save France. So why, despite solid advice to postpone the battle, did Napoleon take full command of an unnecessary bat­t­le, stating that he could easily defeat the inept British soldiers and the remote Prussian soldiers?

We can acknowledge that the French under Marshal Michel Ney event­ually captured a farmhouse in the Allied area and began decimating Wellington’s troops with artillery. But why was Napoleon so pre­occupied with the 30,000 Prussians attacking his flank that he did not release troops to aid Ney’s attack until later? By that time, Wellington had reorganised the British def­ences, and the French at­tack was repulsed. Fifteen minutes later, the allied army launched a general advance and the Prussians att­acked in the east, throwing the French troops into chaotic retreat. 

For a skilled and exper­ien­c­ed general, Napoleon’s speedy loss didn’t make sense.

 

The Radetzky March, Johann Strauss I and the Austrian army

I know the Radetzky March and can hum along with the best of Strauss fans. See it performed by the Vienna Philharmonic in 2011.

The composer Johann Strauss I had left Vienna in 1833 on the first of his many European tours in 1838. In spite of all the revolutionary sentiments then, the German-speaking Austrians were not prepared to yield national sovereignty to the other peoples of the Hapsburg Empire. In fact there was great rejoicing in Vienna when news of Field Marshall Radetzky’s victory in Italy arrived. In August 1848 there took was a “…victory celebration in honour of our brave army in Italy and in support of our wounded soldiers”; it was then that Strauss’s Radetzky March was heard for the first time.

Despite 1848 being the year of revolutions across Europe, or because of it, The Radetzky March became popular. During his final tour in 1849 across Central Europe and Britain, Strauss sensed that many people regarded the Radetzky March as an affirmation of political power [although some sympathised with the Italians and Hungarians’ quest for freedom]. The tradition among officers was to start clapping and stomping their feet whenever the chorus was played. And this tradition carried on.

 

Emperor Franz Josef and Archduke Franz Ferdinand parading 
while the brass band played The Radetzky March.

The main thing I did not know was: who the individual called Johann Josef Wenzel Anton Franz Karl Graf/Count Radetzky von Radetz (1766–1858)? Thanks to Graham Darby and the Mad Monarchist Blog for the history.

Radetzky was born in Trebnice Bohemia (Czech Republic now) to a noble family. His parents died when he was young and he was raised by his grandfather until he became a student in Vienna’s Theresa Academy. In 1786 he became an officer-cadet in the Imperial Army, received his commission as an officer and was posted to a heavy cavalry regiment. His first battle was in the Turkish War and then he served in the Austrian Netherlands in the 1790s.

He first really distinguished himself in the wars against Revol­ut­ion­ary and Napoleonic France. He led a successful infiltration of the enemy lines in 1794, fought along the Rhine in 1795 and in 1796 led a troop of hussars into northern Italy.

Radetzky served in the siege of Mantua against Napoleon, was promoted within the military ranks while still in Italy and received the pres­tigious Military Order of Maria Theresa. As a hands-on staff colonel, he was constantly advocating improve­ments in the Austrian Army.

In 1798 he somehow managed to find time to go home and marry Countess Francisca von Strassoldo Grafenberg with whom he had eight children.

In 1805 he was promoted to major general and assigned in Italy under the command of Archduke Charles of Austria, but this time it did not lead to success. Soon Radetzky was back in the field leading a brig­ade in battle in 1809 and became a field marshal. Then he became colonel-in-chief of the Fifth Radetzky Hussars. However in what was a major problem for the Aust­rian armed forces, the government refused to allocate the funds nec­essary to implement Radetzky’s recommended changes. Eventually the colonel re­signed in disgust and returned to the field. In 1813 he served as chief of staff to Field Marshal the Prince of Schwarzenberg.

Portrait of Fieldmarshal Radetzky, in 1850
painted by Georg Decker
Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna

Graf Radetzky helped plan the operation that led to the allied victory at Leipzig. He marched in triumph through Paris in 1814 when Napoleon was defeated and played a part in the Congress of Vienna, helping Austria-Russia ties. Unfortunately the ensuing peace only brought about a greater disinterest on the part of the Austrian government for Radetzky's plans for a more efficient organisation, improved tactics and overall a stronger commitment to national defence.

To get him out the way, Radetzky’s seniors promoted him to General of the Cavalry and placed him in command of a fortress. But when the fear of revolution rose again, Graf Radetzky was called on to save the monarchy. When rebellion broke out in the Papal States, his part of the Austrian army suppressed it and in 1834 he was placed in command of the Austrian Imperial troops in Italy.

At 70, he was promoted to Field Marshal. He ensured that his troops were the best trained and most disciplined force in Austria. But it was a dang­erous mistake not to do the same across the Empire, as was proven when the Revolutions of 1848 erupted. Radetzky struggled against large-scale rebellions in the Austrian-ruled territories of Italy and in the war being waged by the king of Piedmont-Sardinia.

Yet he succeeded in holding off the Italian forces until reinforcements arrived, ending in his great victory at the Battle of Novara in March 1849. Radetzky crushed the Italian nation­alists and reconquered Venice, bringing it firmly back under Austrian control. This was the pinnacle of his military career; he was awarded the a] Order of the Golden Fleece for his victories against the Hapsburg monarchy’s enemies and b] Viceroyship of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.

The Austrians troops certainly adored Radetzky because he always tried to get them better weapons and equipment, and his victories meant that fewer Austrian lads lost their lives. In fact his men referred to him as Father Radetzky. I imagine being idol­ised by his troops was an uncommon event amongst Austrian generals. He was a rock solid defender of his Emperor and of his men, until his death at the grand old age of 91 in 1858.

Radetzky was one of the most significant Austrian military figures of the late 18th (against the Turks in the 1780s) and first half of the C19th (against Napol­eon in 1813 and in the 1848 risings in Italy). His successful career spanned 70+ years! By the 1850s the old soldier was becoming frail, but that does not explain why we largely know his name only via the Strauss March. Perhaps it was because the soldiers clearly liked Strauss’s music, but the liberal critics believed it encouraged unthinking Habsburg nationalism. 

Radetzky March score, 1848

Wait a moment! Now everyone knows his name! Radetzkyplatz is a well known square in the Weißgerber­viertel in the 3rd district of Vienna, near the Danube Canal. It was named after our man in 1876.

Radetzky Mem­orial was built in Central Prague in the 1890s.

Hotel Radetzky is a traditional Austrian hotel facing the water in Sankt Gilgen, Salzburg.

There is an important chapter in the book Military Culture and Popular Pat­riot­ism in Late Imperial Austria by Laurence Cole called “Embodying Patriotism: Field Marshall Radetzky as Military Hero”.

And there are Café Radetzskys in Prague, Vienna, Turin and everywhere else.

Design in Napoleon's Consular and Empire periods (1799-1815)

As early as 1740, the Vincennes manufactory was created with the backing of King Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. Then in 1756 the Vincennes factory moved to Sèvres and was soon given a royal warrant of appointment. All of the artistic directors of the Vincennes-Sevres porcelain seemed to be both artistically creative and commercially successful.

In time, British porcelain was so skilled and attractive that special protective barriers had to be raised, to protect against British imports and to protect French workers against British embargoes. And not just porcelain. French industries were supported by a system of government foundations, such as the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry. Factories creating luxury goods, including textiles, goldware, clocks etc did very well out of the system.

Now we come to the new century. The Consular period (1799-1803) in France began in 1799 when the Directory was overthrown in a bloodless coup and replaced by three con­suls, including Napoleon. After the coup, Napoleon was named First Consul for life and in 1804 Napoleon crowned himself Emperor. The period of his reign as Emperor is known as the Empire period (1804-1815).

Matthew Martin (Gallery Magazine, Melbourne, September 2012) wrote that the revival of luxury design industries in France helped create a new visual language that was rich with symbolism. I will quote from his excellent article and then specify where my opinion is different.

When Napoleon came to power as First Consul in 1799, much of French industry was in dire disarray, the victim of years of foreign con­fl­ict and political instability during the Revolution. The luxury industries that had made Paris Europe’s fashion capital during the C18th had virtually collapsed. Napoleon made the revival of these industries a key part of his programme to establish France’s European pre-eminence in all fields; he gave substantial state commissions to local furniture makers, silk weavers, goldsmiths and porcelain designers.

This renewed patronage of French industry was accompanied by a new visual language. French art and design of the Napoleonic era were distinguished by their active role promoting a post-Revolutionary vision of society. The visual arts of the Consular and Empire periods were rich in symbolism, articulating the political and social values promulgated by the new regime.

Enlightenment artists adopted a clear and rational approach to designing for the new world that was taking shape in France under Napoleon. Artists railed against the use of meaningless ornament; they declared that every ornamental motif had to serve some rational purpose, rele­v­ant to the function of the object that it adorned, and that the ornam­ent should not obscure the object’s intended function. Here we may detect the first steps on the path to C20th functionalist modernism.

Sevres porcelain

from Napoleon's Headquarters service

1807-11

 Fondation Napoléon

The artists saw their task to be the revival of the timeless truths of the classical world, found in the ancient civilisations of Greece, Rome and Egypt. The motifs selected to decorate objects in the Con­sular and Empire era drew upon military imagery and mythological subjects. They created images appropriate to a society that saw its mission as the liberation of Europe from absolutism (by force of arms). This society would spread the eternal spirit of freedom of the ancients that the Revolution had successfully ignited in France.

The works and their decoration articulated a vision of Empire with France at its centre and the Emperor Napoleon as the living embodiment of the French nation’s imperial destiny. During this era, art and design were turned to the service of state ideology.

Although many luxury goods manufacturers failed during the Revolut­ion, some managed to negotiate the turmoil of the 1790s to experience revival under Napoleon’s rule e.g the Jacobs fam­ily of furniture makers. They and other designers looked to Vivant Denon’s publication of his draw­ings of Egyptian antiquities. Napoleon must have loved his years in Egypt because, in the wake of his successful 1798-1801 campaign there, the art and architecture of ancient Egypt become a significant influence on furniture design. At least in the years up to 1815.

The Sevres porcelain factory also drew on Vivant Denon’s drawings to produce some of its best productions, in the Egyptian taste. Sevres painted the porcelain pieces with fan­ciful hieroglyphs and a wide range of panoramic views of Egypt. Their Service de l’empereur was informed by an acute historical con­sciousness of France in relation to the classical world. The presence in Paris of ancient art treasures seized from across Europe was material proof of France’s military, political and cultural pre-eminence.

Emperor Napoleon commissioned a Sevres porcelain service (see photo below) and presented it to Prince William of Prussia in 1808. Each piece of the set was decorated with at least one scene derived from Jean de la Fontaine's Fables. In this way, the French Empire demonst­rated its ability to equal the achievements of the ancients.

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I agree that the Consulate and Empire era (1799-1815) was definitely a time of renewal for the luxury industries that had suffered so badly during and after the Revolution. Luxury was again welcomed!! So Napoleon commissioned new interiors, to stamp his character on the many Imperial palaces and to create work for France’s luxury industries.

And I warmly agree with Martin’s notion of a new visual image, rich in symbolism, that promoted and reflected state ideology. The language of design definitely did come from the classical world i.e the ancient civilisations of Greece, Rome and Egypt. Even more specifically, Emperor Napoleon was personally at the centre of France’s imperial destiny.

Sevres porcelain, 1807

with Jean de la Fontaine's Fables.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts

But if artists really did rail against the use of meaningless ornament and required every ornamental motif to serve a rational function of the object that it adorned, they were stronger on rhetoric than on achievement. Their objects were densely decorated! The porcelain, for example, was totally encircled by repeated geometric patterns, covered with giltwork and filled with rich landscape paintings. They were the most intensely decorated porcelain pieces I have ever seen.

Just because the decoration used was often symbolic, it does not mean it was not decorative. Egyptian palm trees, camels, laurel wreaths and sculpted lion heads were found in profusion. And just because Napol­e­onic furniture was enriched by the use of elegantly restrained mah­og­any and refined inlays of ebony and pewter, there was no ideolog­ical connection to C20th functionalist modernism. Not even a glimpse of it.

History Carnival Jan 2016. Architecture, the visual arts and literature.

We often assume that hist­ory can only be analysed via near-contemporary texts, so the theme of this month’s carnival was "the use of the visual, performing, musical and literary arts".  We can analyse history via these modes that did not come from official royal, church or military sources.

First architecture. Nick V at Intelliblog analysed Ephesus. Town planning made the Greek city famous; the Temple of Artemis c550 BC was an Ancient Wonder, but it was Emperor Constantine who rebuilt the public architecture.

Adrian Yekkes' fine example of Russian art nouveau was the 1902 Ryabushinsky Mansion in Moscow. Now the Maxim Gorky House Museum, visit the rooms used to exhibit paintings, Gorky's library and his furnishings. The house also tells the history of the Old Believers sect.

Heather Cowper in Heather on Her Travels saw Venice's  St Mark’s square, Doge’s palace and the Basilica, San Georgio Maggiore Island & Palladio's church, Murano's glass industry and Madonna dell’Orto Church with Tintoretto art and the Old Customs House with golden Fortuna. 

C18th Venice was a city famous for high quality art, music and fest­iv­ities. Masked revellers att­ended the opera. Vivaldi was maestro di concerti at the Pietà, responsible for composition, rehearsal and performance. But artistic reputations come and go, as Venetian Cat showed.

San Georgio Maggiore in Venice 

In Heritage Calling, Shrewsbury’s Flaxmill Maltings was a large factory embodying modern structural engineering. 50% of the workforce were women and 35% were children under 16, working long weeks. Engines with dominant boilers and tall chimneys appeared like a modern skyscraper.

On The Convict Trail discussed Horsecroft, an early colonial structure in Sorell Tasmania. Captain Glover and the convicts built the 400 acres homestead and stone barn in 1826 and a stone walled sheep fold. Read the history of bush rangers, and of Queen Victoria and her far flung colonies.

Louise Wilson, Author wrote Australian history, natural and built, in one post. She discussed the floods, droughts, hard woods and bushfires, noting the impact on The First Fleet, convict architect Francis Greenway, churches, gold rush, creation of Canberra and the nation's transport systems.

Now Sculpture. Black Mark by Mark Holsworth told Melbourne's public sculpture story. Bertram Mackennal's dad did the architectural ornamentation on Victoria’s Parliament House. Bertram soon became Australia’s star at the Royal Academy and the Paris Salon.

Ornamental Passions by Chris Partridge analysed Temple Bar Memorial. City of London authority extended beyond the old walls, becoming both decorative & functional. A new stone bar was built post-Great Fire. And redesigned by Horace Jones (1819–87), architect of Tower Bridge.

Then paintings, photos & film. A thing for the past analysed the history of beards, shaving and razors in the C18th. Johan cleverly analysed Scandinavian paintings and sculptures, and looked for differences based on age, income, participation in the military and urban/rural settings.

Follow Jacques Tissot's career in A fancy Frenchman’s Jewish Jesus. Tissot lived the good life in London from 1871 on, painting lush society women. Only in 1885, aged 50, did he have a St Paul moment. He visited Ottoman Palestine, painting landscape, architecture, religion and people.

Art and Architecture, mainly analysed the history of modern German art, starting with Die Brücke's campaign against Wilhelmine morality in 1905. Most of the artists now in a Israel Museum Exhibition were branded degenerate after 1933, and their art confiscated, destroyed or sold.

Ben Knowles in The Victorian Era examined Russian paintings of porcelain tea sets and asked about the social history of tea drinking in Scandinavia and Russia.

Bruce Dearstyne wrote about Albany's Institute of History & Art in The New York History Blog. "The Capital Region in 50 Objects Exhibit" tells of conflict, industrial history, politics and culture. The site was established in 1791 as the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures.

Environment, Law, and History by Mark Weiner analysed the Austrian landscape around Salzburg. His video explored it as an inheritance of the legal principles of monarchy and of a desire for security. In the same blog David Schorr wrote "Art and the history of environmental law", a series that started with the Impressionists and continued into the C20th.

Jason M Kelly discussed Indianapolis' Museum of the Anth­rop­ocene. The idea was to create an outdoor, city-wide museum that explored their history, science, art and beauty. Vista markers along Indianapolis’ 8 mile Cultural Trail highlight important park features and and cultural districts.

Ephesus

Now literature. Stylisticienne highlighted the role of noble women in commissioning mid C15th English verse. Note the literary interests of teenage Queen Margaret of Anjou who arrived in England in 1445 to marry King Henry VI. 

Elma Brenner analysed a C15th treasure in the Wellcome Library. Folding almanacs contained astrological, medical and calendrical information, portable reference tools. Its fine artwork and silk binding indicated a wealthy patron.

the many-headed monster by Jonathan Willis showed Oliver Cromwell and his C17th puritans tried to ban Christmas because of the revelries!! The abolition of Christmas was a hot topic in the popular pamphlet war of the 1640s-50s.

Napoleon on St Helena reading books was in Finding Napoleon by Margaret Rodenberg. He was always a great reader/book collector; as a general and emperor, he carried a mahogany travelling library! Discover the books he read on St Helena and the men who spent long evenings listening.

The Resident Judge of Port Phillip examined the Melbourne Debating Society from 1841. Janine Rizzetti cited Jeffrey McNairn's book The Capacity to Judge in Upper Canada 1791-1854, analysing the topics selected and the benefits of vigorous public debates in Canada and Australia.

In The Pirate Omnibus, Simon Abernethy examined railway fares in London, in a 1937 Royal Commission. London Transport analysed New York's system of flat rate fares and found that when transport costs were pushed down, rents in distant boroughs rose. But would that happen in London?

In his memoir My War Gone By, I Miss It So Anthony Loyd travelled across Bosnia-Herzegovnia and spent time in Grozny at the height of the First Chechen War. Mandy Southgate reviewed Loyd's history of the region in her blog A Passion To Understand, in the light of subsequent history and trials.

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Now American history. The word terrorism was analysed by The Junto blog, starting in a 1795 American news­paper, Philadelphia’s Gazette. In The Reign of Terror (1793-4), France's government purged France of counter­-revolution. The alarmed Washington administration used the term.

The Grems Doolittle blog followed brothers Henry and John Glen, merchants in Albany in the 1760s, and into military affairs during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. And finally the US Congress.

Crailo State Historic Site blog examined King George’s War, a major colonial war fought between England and France which spread to Canada and then the US. The war, which ended in 1748, made few North American border changes.

The Friends of Schoharie Crossing blog followed the career of James Shanahan as a contractor on the Erie & Oswego canals, then railway projects, into New York state politics and finally Superintendent of New York State Canals.

The Quack Doctor blog discussed the use of a medicinal powder to cure drunkedness, Antidipso. These Edwardian advertisements were targeted at the wives of male drinkers.

Kelli Huggins viewed Elmira’s Most Eligible Bachelors in Chemung County Historical Society. The newspaper used images of the town's most eligible single men in 1888. In the same blog, Erin Doane analysed an explosion at Elmira’s Museum building (then a bank) in 1884. And the personal and political life of the bank president, John Arnot Jnr.

Napoleon's island idyll on Elba 1814-15

Elba is an island of 12,000 inhabitants in the Mediterranean, only 20 km off the Tuscan coast. Bec­ause of its steep geography, the largest town of Portoferraio requires some vigorous walking. The town is surrounded on three sides by the sea, facing a natural harbour that was, and is very attractive.

beautiful Portoferraio harbour

This island has changed hands many times. It stayed with the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until the C18th when, due to its strategic position in the Mediterranean Sea, the tiny island was argued over by France, England and Austria. Then in 1802 it was transferred to France. But it was only after the exploit­ation of new iron mills in Rio Marina that the town started to grow and the community infrastructure started to be built. Decades after the end of the Napoleonic Era, Elba became part of the newly united Kingdom of Italy in 1860, enabling Portoferraio/Iron Port to thrive.

I wonder what the locals made of the 45-year-old prisoner Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte when he and his personal guard of 600 men were trans­ported from Paris to Elba in 1814. I presume the locals asked the same excellent questions that Stephen Cooper asked. Why was the Emperor treated so lightly? After all, he had subjugated most parts of Continental Europe, threatened Britain with invasion, caused the death of three million citizens and burned Moscow. No effort was made either by the French or by the international community, to bring him to justice. Furthermore, Elba was only 64 ks from his native Corsica, 240 ks from mainland France and very very close to Italy, where his family continued to hold power.

Although the 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau allowed him to retain the title Emperor and to rule over Elba, Napol­eon was supposed to be prisoner. He was warmly welcomed off his ship and onto the island, with flags, heartfelt speeches and a tour of inspection of his new island home. And he was not cut off from the outside world: he was allowed to read newspapers and letters, and to receive visitors who arrived on boats. His worst punishment was that his second wife and his beloved only son were sent to live in Austria.

Two houses on Elba were adapted or built for the Emperor’s court, Villa dei Mulini in Portoferraio and the Villa San Martino just 5 ks out of town. Neither place was a palace, but they were very comf­ort­able homes with enough dignity for Napoleon to welcome his overseas visitors with pride. Not bad for a prisoner being held in disgrace.

 

Napoleon's Villa dei Mulini in Portoferraio.

His town house had all his personal quarters on the ground floor of the home, while the top floor was totally dedicated to the enter­tainment of his courtiers and guests. The impressive library, inc­reased by the good booksellers of Livorno, was installed in the town house, as promised. Napoleon continued to live a very learned and cultivated life. He had a four-post bed with red silk curtains, Empire-style console tables, bronze mirrors and candlesticks.

Napoleon shared the architectural design of his humble two-storey summer resort with architect Paolo Bargigli, and also was involved in the villa’s decorat­ions and furnish­ings. Any money needed to create this summer residence came from Napoleon’s sister Princess Pauline, wife of Camillo Borghese, 6th Prince of Sulmona, an Italian nobleman. She must have really loved visiting her brother - this princess organising gala events for Napoleon to which the most suitable members of Elba society were invited.

Another import was Vincenzo Revelli who came from the Turin court to be the “court painter” of Elba. In one room, Napoleon could linger over his victories in Egypt 13 years ear­lier, amid paintings of ancient Egyptian archit­ecture and Pharoic writings. Frescoes, hailing Napoleon's victories alongside his heroic French armies, were lavishly painted on the villa walls.

   

Napoleon's summer residence at Villa San Martino,

just outside Portoferraio

Napoleon’s staff were given decent accommodation was well, so that although the Brit­ish did not want him to escape, they treated him with the dignity due to an emperor. It would be interesting to know who paid for Napoleon's 1000-man army on Elba – their salaries, housing, food, clothes and weapons. And he looked after their cultural needs as well. Napoleon had an old church converted into Teatro dei Vigilanti, complete with three tiers of seats from where they could watch the stage below.

Napoleon ruled Elba as governor for only 300 days. He was constantly trying to im­p­rove the lives of the 12,000 islander inhabitants, perhaps while plotting to get enough boats together to escape from the island. In his 9+ months there, he created a small navy and army (to defend the island from whom?), developed the iron mines, ruled on modern agricul­tural methods, built roads and redesiged his two residences. He spent tax payer money on public works like draining the island's marshes and on an impressive improvement of the legal and education systems. He also oversaw improvements to the island's iron-ore mines, the revenue of which funded many of his pet projects.

Totally separated from his second wife and son who had been sent back to Austria, struggling for the allowance guaranteed to him by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, and perhaps fearing a worse and more remote exile than Elba, Napoleon escaped back to France in late February 1815. His Mediterranean idyll ended; his misery on St Helena had not yet started.

Looking up the harbour cliff face,

note Villa dei Mulini on the right

After Napoleon left the island, the summer home Villa San Mart­ino was abandoned until the Russian Prince Anatole Demidoff married one of Napoleon’s nieces and took over the building. There the prince established what is today known as the Galleria Demidoff, designed to house arte­facts, artworks and gardens in celebration of Uncle Napoleon. So the main house Palazzo dei Mulini, and the smaller Villa Demidoff San Martino, together make up the National Museum of the Napoleonic Residences on Elba.

One last thought. Do the local inhabitants of Elba really still say a Mass each year for Napoleon’s soul at Misericordia Church in Portoferraio? If true, it suggests that the old French Emperor was loved by at least the important part of Elban society. This should not surprise us at all. At least half the modern scholarship on Napoleon saw him as a man as a soldier of the revolution, a saviour, a peoples' hero and a leader of the Liberal Empire, in France but also presumably on Elba.

For beautiful photos of Elba, see Exiled like Napoleon to Elba Island in the blog Sarah Laurence. For a good read, find Neil Campbell's book Napoleon on Elba: Diary of an Eye Witness to Exile, Ravenhall Books, 2004. And "Napoleon on Elba 1814" by Stephen Cooper in History Today, 15th April 2014.

Victor Hugo's house museums

The City of Paris preserves the two houses where Victor Hugo (1802-85) lived the longest, one in Paris itself and one on the island of Guernsey. In addition, there is a third home that I want to discuss -  his holiday home in Normandy.

1. Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée in Place des Vosges in Paris was where for 16 years (1832-48) Victor Hugo rented a 280 square-metre apartment on the second floor. Hugo was 30 when he moved into the Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée with his wife and their four children. By this time he had already triumphed with one play, and had enjoyed widespread success with his great novel Notre-Dame de Paris.

I mentioned the importance of the Parisian Victor Hugo House Museum in an earlier post. It is in this apartment that he wrote some of his im­por­tant early works, along with some of Les Misérables, the beginning of La Légende des siècles and part of Contemplations. During this period, this clever creative man became a member of the Académie Française, as well as a peer of France and a member of Parliament.

For excellent photos inside Place des Vosges, see Maisons Victor Hugo.

Victor Hugo House Museum
Place des Vosges in Paris
Closed on Mondays

2. Hugo loved holidaying in Fecamp, on the English Channel coast. And he loved staying at a very grand house in the small Normandy town of Villequier, built by the wealthy Vacquerie family. Victor Hugo and his family first stayed with the Vacqueries in 1839 and so it not surprising when one of the Vacquerie sons married Victor’s daughter Leopoldine in Feb 1843. The two extended families enjoyed a warm friendship.

A great tragedy occurred in the family in September 1843 when Léopoldine, her brand new husband Charles and two uncles were drowned in a boating accident on the Seine, near the family home. All four were buried in the cemetery of Villequier. Victor’s very moving poems after 1843 tell of his annual pil­grimage to her grave in the town.

Museum of Victor Hugo Villequier was opened in the Vacquerie’s home in 1959. Letters from Leopoldine to her family, portraits, family furniture, Victor Hugos’ sketches and views of contemporary Normandy fill the home. The young couple's tomb and the statue of Victor Hugo near the site of the accident complete the Museum.
  

Museum of Victor Hugo in Villequier

Once the home of the Vacquerie family

Closed Tuesdays

3. Victor Hugo lived in exile for 15 years (1856-70). He left Paris because Louis Bonaparte/Napoleon III seized complete power in 1851 and established a non-parliamentary const­it­ution. Hugo openly declared Napoleon III a traitor to France, so the writer had to flee the country to avoid arrest. But Brussels was not going to be safe enough, so in 1852 Hugo moved on to Jersey (with other opponents of the new French regime). The island was close to France geographically, but was a British Crown dependency.

Hauteville House (above and below)
Saint Peter Port on the is­land of Guernsey

In Oct 1855 Hugo moved to another British island, Guernsey. He was immediately captivated by Guernsey: he was struck by the ocean, the harshness of its cliffs and the gentleness of the flower filled landscape. In 1856, he published his book of poetry called Les Contemplations and with the proceeds he bought Hauteville House.

So his third house was Hauteville House in Saint Peter Port on the is­land of Guernsey. Today we can still see the large white building with a garden overlooking the sea. And we can still see his collection of furniture and decorative art pieces that he bought locally eg carpets and ceramics. Converting the house for his family’s usage was a time-consuming, energetic labour of love.

Although legally able to return to France in 1859, Hugo chose to remain on Guernsey until 1870 when the Second Empire fell. It was during this period that Hugo wrote, completed or published many of his famous works: Les Contemplations (1856), Les Mis­ér­ables (1862), La Legende des siecles (1877), William Shakespeare (1864), Les Chansons des rues et des bois (1865), Les Travailleurs de la mer (1866), L'Homme qui rit (1869) and Quatre-Vingt-Treize (1874).

In March 1927 Hauteville House was donated to the City of Paris by the poet’s descendants. The house has been preserved exactly as it was, including Hugo’s very personal decorative schemes. This year the house was awarded the Maison des Illustres label by the French Ministry of Culture, recognising the building’s cultural value to French herit­age. Visitors can tour Hauteville House from April–September inclusive, except for Sundays.

See the islands of Guernsey (G) and Jersey (J), as well as Fecamp (F), Villequier and La Havre.

Many thanks to Paris Musees for the details of Hugo's sites and their contents.