Napoleon Bonaparte's emblems : between simplicity and erudition
Napoleon I forged his own emblems far from those too connoted of the Ancien Régime. The young Emperor intends to offer new perspectives to France history whose values are now supported by strong legible and historical symbols.
The antique influence.
Already consul Bonaparte (1799 – 1804) make clear, in his choice of furniture and art objects, an assurance which supported a broader thought in the matter of political will. Once Emperor, his architects and decorators Percier (1764 – 1838) and Fontaine (1762 – 1853) undertook to impose an official style flow with tastes of Roman antiquity. Massive mahogany and marble furniture evoked ancient temples, the luxurious sobriety of gilded bronzes borrowed the decorations of Republican Rome while the golden yellow, green, crimson and purple colors drew on the newly discovered frescoes of Herculaneum and Pompeii. It was at the dawn of his coronation that arose the thorny problem of the future imperial emblems. Everyone went there with his animal; the least chauvinists proposed the lion or the elephant while the most patriotic have their heart set on rooster. Others, probably more bucolic, suggested the oak. While the gallinace seemed to prevail for a time, it was ousted by the lion, itself scratched by the hand of Napoleon who preferred the eagle. The eagle which was also the emblem of imperial Rome elegantly associated the high antiquity and the traditional heraldry through the evocation of the Carolingian eagle.
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Clear and erudite symbols.
If the eagle is emblematic of the reign of the Emperor, some symbols more directly evoke Bonaparte. First of all, let us quote the laurel wreath superbly presented during the coronation of the Emperor, where the latter’s head, laureled with gold leaf – art work of the great goldsmith Biennais (1764 – 1843) – gave this historical moment a grandiose character inherited from the ancient panache.
For this mythological attribute of Apollo celebrated in Rome both poets and victorious warlords: the evergreen foliage symbolized the immortality acquired by victory. Honorary and prestigious award attributed to the great military characters and, consequently, to the Emperor, the laurel wreath never lost its superb and reached the XIXth century with the same freshness, enriched only by the idealized glory of the Roman Empire.
Bees, for their part, were recognized for their organization, their hard work and their ability to sacrifice for the common interest of their hive. Nothing less than an ideal patriotic symbol, especially as they held from the Church a divine connotation (they carry the Word of God and wisdom to St. Ambrose and John Chrysostom). Moreover, it is believed (until recently) that the gold insects found in 1653 in the tomb of Childeric I – the not very famous founder of the Merovingian dynasty and father of Clovis – were bees. But it turns out that the latter were actually cicadas. Either, Childéric’s bees were considered as the first emblem of the sovereigns of France. It was enough to sit our Emperor in the natural continuity of ruling power without vexing the religious power. Thus linked to idealized antiquity and to history, if not entomological, at least French, Napoleon Bonaparte had only to engrave his name in history. What he did literally. His number (the letter N) was indeed carved on the facades of the Louvre. Nevertheless, the avenging Bourbon, once returned to the throne, hastened to hammer the imperial letter wherever it was. Thus, most of the “N” that adorn the Louvre today are those of Napoleon III and not those of his uncle emperor. Finally, last symbol and not least, the crowned “N” found on the coins of that period. This crown, now preserved in the Louvre, was only used on the coronation day. Called the Couronne de Charlemagne, it presents a timeless medieval look with eight half-arches of gold adorned with cameos; a globe surmounted by a cross completes the work drawn by Percier. Placed above the head of the Emperor, already surrounded by laurels, the crown tied ancient glory, history and patriotism all the ceremony long.
This set of symbols produced a simple speech, clear and powerful as the juxtaposition of its elements instantly evokes, and still does today, the Emperor Napoleon I.
Longwood House
When Napoleon Bonaparte arrived on October 17th, 1815 at his place of exile while his residence at Saint Helena was not yet ready. He moved to Longwood two months later on December 10th, 1815 and remained there until his death on May 5th, 1821. Between piteous furniture and glorious memories of the past, the interior of this dilapidated Longwood was both a disrespectful prison and cradle of the myth birth.
Between respect and bitterness: the British reluctance to keep its commitments to its famous prisoner.
Longwood House is from Napoleon’s arrival a second rate house poorly built where water seeps everywhere. During the 68 months in which Bonaparte was confined there, many rotting pieces of furniture were burned, repaired or redone. Far from the vast and comfortable palaces of Saint-Cloud or the Tuileries, this house of 150 m2was, in the opinion of all, as deposed he was. Longwood was divided into an antechamber, which became a billiard room in 1816 (Napoleon nevertheless used it as a “topographic salon”), a lounge, a dining room, a study, a bedroom, a library, and a bathroom with copper tub. The English, who were obliged to cover the expenses of Bonaparte’s imprisonment, did not shine here by their fair play. In addition to the dilapidated decay of Longwood, the attentive observer will note in Sir George Cockburn (1772 – 1853) – in charge of finding all the necessary furniture – a certain resentment towards our Corsican since he acquired at a low price from the local disparate furniture that they themselves held thanks to their haggling with the British, Dutch, Portuguese and American ships passing on the island for supplies. Some of the finest furniture on loan from the East India Company came to enrich the house interior, as well as some of those specially designed by George Bullock (1778-1818), a London cabinetmaker, originally intended to furnish Longwood New House, a residence under construction when Bonaparte arrived but in which he will never live.
This shameful disrepair in the eyes of the French as of those of several English visitors nevertheless found a major adversary in the strict imperial etiquette applied throughout the estate, in the splendor of the furniture and objects brought back from France and in the very dignity of the imperial prisoner.
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Luxurious reminders of the reign, a fertile ground for the birth of the Napoleonic myth.
Sir Hudson Lowe (1769 – 1844), governor of the island from 1816, was the first offended that the rank of the general was not respected in the layout of Longwood itself. By way of compensation, he offered Bonaparte a large billiard table and two important globes, one terrestrial, the other celestial. Then, on the ordinary wooden furniture, on the mahogany consoles, the relics of the Napoleonic reign helped to hide the British failure. The diaphanous marble bust of the King of Rome, sparkling pendulum in gilded bronze and enamel, majestic eagle sculpture in silver, luxurious gold sword and damascened steel – a unique artwork of Biennais (1764 – 1843) – lend their magnificence to the embellishment of an everyday life punctuated by the writing of Napoleon’s memoirs.
In the uses, the particular service of the Emperor realized in the finest porcelain of the imperial manufacture of Sèvres, the elegant crystal glassware or even pieces of the coffee service called “Cabaret Égyptien“, also of the manufacture of Sèvres and which Napoleon appreciated so much, allowed to establish the dignity of a man who intends to remain sovereign until his last breath. Witnesses of his past glory and his myth to be born, his campaign bed, “this old friend he preferred to any other” according to Louis-Joseph Marchand (1791 – 1876), in which he breathed his last, is still exhibited in Longwood while his beloved Athenian is now presented at the Louvre.
Athenian of Napoleon Bonaparte
While France leaves Ancien Regime to turn in a 19th century full of promises, habits regarding hygiene change slowly. Water takes a new place at the center of daily custom. Vases, basins and Athenian enhance water making it a symbol of freshness, purity and simplicity essential to the most refined people.
Simple use in a sophisticated furniture
We know the meticulous care that Napoleon took to his personal hygiene. In life as in war he promoted efficiency without losing sight of the importance of etiquette: if his ability to live as a soldier made him popular with his troops, his attachment to objects of power made him an experienced politician. This Athenian, a luxury basin for ablutions, admirably fulfilled these two requirements of efficiency and representation. He found it so much to his liking that from the Tuileries at the time of French Consulate to St. Helena, the imperial Athenian will follow the Emperor to the peaks at his fall. On drawings by Charles Percier (1764 – 1838), the tabletmaker Martin-Guillaume Biennais (1764 – 1843) put all his talent at the service of this luxury furniture made of bronze, silver and yew. Elegant gilt bronze swans display majestic wings to support a silver basin carved with reed patterns.
The silver ewer used to pour the water for Napoleon’s ablutions rests on the tablet decorated with dolphin at its angles. While fine bees – emblems of the Emperor – in gilded bronze adorn the Athenian, dolphins, reeds and swans evoke the aquatic world, the freshness of the lakes and rivers, poetic metaphor of the use intended to this piece of furniture.
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Such a sweet theft
In his Mémoires, Louis-Joseph-Narcisse Marchand (1791-1873), first manservant of Napoleon tells how, at the end of the Cent-Jours (June 1815), he stole the Athenian at the Palace of the Elysée – furniture that would have been inevitably confiscated – before the deposed Emperor was exiled to St. Helena. Marchand testifies “The Emperor had praised this piece of furniture for his use, I knew what privation it would be for him, he liked after his beard, to put his face in a lot of water […] in the thought of being pleasant to him, I had it brought to my carriage, and I covered it with my cloak so as not to arouse the attention of the passers-by of Paris and on the road.”
There is no doubt that Napoleon praised the attentiveness and delicacy of his faithful manservant! The harshness of island life was certainly softened by the use of this magnificent tripod basin, a practice which, as we know, Bonaparte systematically accompanied with Cologne, which he was so fond of and use to say, at least, in a gargantuan way.
The Athenian today preserved in the Louvre Museum was one of the rare goods for which Napoleon was fond of. He testifies it in his will where “the inventory of [his] effects that Marchand will keep to give to [his] son” states that he bequeaths to the King of Rome (1811 – 1832), his son “[his] sink, his water pot and his foot.”
The Arrival of Napoleon at St. Helena
Following the Hundred Days (from March to July 1815) - the short period in which Napoleon regained power after his second abdication - the decisive defeat of Waterloo (June 22nd, 1815) is paid a heavy price by victors. The casualties were enough to prove that Napoleon represented a threat to future European peace unless he was sent to a reclusive land far from everything. For the Emperor, even vanquished, seemed to have the same determination as the phoenix to reborn from ashes.
Exile Required by the European Powers.
While the defeat of Waterloo sign the imminent end of the Hundred Days, Napoleon surrendered voluntarily to the English who has the responsibility to choose his place of exile. While the fallen Emperor hopes to be sent to the United States, Great Britain is responsible for keeping him in good guard before the place where he will be sent is determined. For the allies and signatories of the Treaty of Paris (which acts the first abdication of Bonaparte on February 10th, 1763) are united in their intransigence in sending Napoleon where he will be totally and certainly unable to return to Europe to sow – according to their fear – disorder and chaos. At the same time, the allies formed by the European rulers do not savour the fervent support received by Napoleon during this last period.
Its perfume inherited from the French Revolution does not, indeed, have the leisure to please them which is confirmed by Bonaparte’s support everywhere in Europe. This support sees in this general having started with nothing one of the most important characters of his time, a precursor for a “modern administration and justice, for the meritocracy and the revolutionary principle of equality before the law. (Alan Forrest, in Napoleon at St. Helena, The Conquest of Memory, Gallimard / Army Museum). In this context, the choice of St. Helena does not appear as obvious as a relief. Behind an altruism of facade that justified this choice by a healthy climate and a distance that would to treat fallen Emperor with a particular indulgence, hides a real desire to isolate the general on a land surrounded by much more waves than his native corsican island.
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The landing of the Emperor at St. Helena.
On the morning of July 15th, 1815, Napoleon embarked on the Bellerophon flying the British flag bound for Plymouth in the south of England, from which he left on Northumberland on August 7th for St. Helena. His journey lasts several months and he finally arrives on the island on October 17th. The Longwood estate which has been attributed to him is not yet ready and he must, pending the end of adjustments, remain in the property of William Balcombe (1777 – 1829), agent of the East India Company with whom he quickly becomes friends. On December 10th, 1815, the deposed Emperor can finally move into his last home in Longwood, a house without comfort that the small circle of his faithful will strive to soften until the last breath of the general.
In order to please him, domestic service is quickly put in place. The interior and exterior service is provided by Louis-Joseph Marchand (1791 – 1876), Napoleon’s first dedicated and faithful manservant since the age of 20. He is assisted in his task by the Mamluk Ali (1788 – 1856) with whom he befriended. Butler Cipriani and chef Michel Lepage provide the food service while four manservant maintain fires, light candles, set tables and meet the demands of the Emperor and his officers.
Although his entourage is devoted body and soul to his well-being (even to recreate his cologne!), Napoleon can not ignore the control of his mail, his strictly supervised walks or the supervisory of his House spending. Bonaparte died on this isolated island in May 1821 at the same time that his legend was born on the continent that had exiled him.
The Life of the Mamluk Ali (1788 - 1856)
A key figure in the history of Napoleon on Saint Helena, we owe him the creation of the Eau de Cologne of the Exiled Emperor. Faithful servant, discreet handyman and apostle of the Napoleonic legend, Mamelouk Ali has oriental only the title: of his real name Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis, the young man was initially intended for the notary.
A Peaceful and Privileged Youth.
His father, a former « piqueur » (a man in charge of training and exercising horses) of the stables of Versailles under Louis XVI became under the Ancien Régime horse-riding teacher, which earned him a certain notoriety. His mother being the daughter of an officer of the royal kitchens at the castle, the young Louis-Étienne received an education (which is already in itself a privilege) and moreover a conscientious education (which touches on exceptional for the time).
Well educated, the young man is sent as a notary clerk in an office in Paris, an activity whose most adventurous aspect was probably to survive from it. He remained there four years before his father, through Armand Augustin Louis Caulaincourt (1773 – 1827), diplomat and Grand Écuyer of Napoleon I, granted Louis-Étienne a place in the imperial service. In 1812 the latter is promoted as porte-arquebuse. But it was two years later, in 1814, that his life changed and offered him a place closer to the Emperor.
Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis becomes Mamluk Ali.
The Mamelukes are, as everyone knows, members of a militia formed of freed slaves in the service of sovereigns. During the Egyptian expedition (1798 – 1801), Napoleon inflicted a heavy defeat on the Mamelukes of Egypt, some of whom joined his ranks. In the summer of 1799, after his victories, a magnificent horse and his groom, a young Mamluk named Raza Roustam (1783 – 1845) were offered to Napoleon. Roustam brings a touch of exoticism that appreciates Bonaparte and quickly becomes the protégé of the general, his bodyguard and his faithful servant. Fidelity that will end during the attempted suicide of the Emperor in April 1814, the day after the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau (April 11 1814) which act the abdication of Napoleon and his exile on the island of Elba.
Worried that he could be accused of murder if the event was to happen again, Mamluk Roustam abandoned his benefactor. It is then Louis-Etienne Saint-Denis who takes his place of 1st Mamluk under the name of Ali, nickname he will keep until the end of his life, which was not the case of his oriental costume that he stopped wearing as soon as he arrived in St. Helena. From that day of April he never left the Emperor, to whom he showed himself devoted and indefatigable. During the exile, he befriended Louis-Joseph Marchand (1791 – 1876) with whom he endeavored to soften as much as possible the captivity of the fallen Emperor. Mamluk Ali became Longwood’s copyist and librarian of which he drew up the complete catalog. From his knowledge of the library, his resourcefulness, his intelligence and his improbable olfactory memory that we owe him the formula of Napoleon’s Eau de Cologne at St. Helena.
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The formula of remembrance.
Harvesting herbs, flowers and bark, diligently studying the books at his disposal, Mamluk Ali managed to formulate a hesperidian recipe to offer Napoleon the only olfactory comfort that he had anymore access to since his forced retirement. The Emperor’s considerable use of Cologne and the eagerness of his faithful servants to provide him with all possible means, even if they were to manufacture it themselves, are proof of importance of the fragrance in the life of Napoleon. It certainly took a number of unsuccessful attempts before reaching the much sought-after recipe. The precious formula probably contributed to the well-being of the Emperor. Thus Mamluk Ali jealously kept it all his life, so that it was found at the end of the 20th century when his personal belongings were sold during an auction sale. Sheltered in a trunk, the passionate purchaser of Napoleonic history discovered the formula, Napoleon’s unique olfactory memory. A treasure today resurrected.
