HORTENSE de BEAUHARNAIS

DAUGHTER OF AN EMPRESS
QUEEN OF HOLLAND
MOTHER OF AN EMPEROR

zaterdag 16 juni 2012

Malmaison

 Hortense was actually an extremely accomplished musician; she loved to play the piano in particular and composed a famous French battle-song for Napoleon's troops called 'Partant pour la Syrie' ('Departing for Syria'). Napoleon loved it and had his troops sing it for Hortense!


Another one of the most unique and original rooms is Josephine's bedroom. It was decorated in a 'tent' style, with beautiful rosy pink fabrics drooping from the ceiling and covering the walls. Such a style might seem claustrophobic, but she avoided this by placing sparse bits of small, lightly decorated furniture in the room and setting her small, gilded bed towards the back of the room, facing open, airy windows. The result is a bedroom that is very cozy and friendly. 

Viewing Original Napoleon Manuscript

Among those documents are four pages of prose young Napoleon Bonaparte drafted in 1795. These precious pages, written in Napoleon’s hand, are not on display in any museum. Read more:mrodenberg/viewing-original-napoleon-manuscript

maandag 11 juni 2012

Napoleon's English letter sells for over $400,000


A rare letter in English written by Napoleon Bonaparte - and filled with errors - has fetched 325,000 euros ($410,000) at auction in Paris.
The one-page letter, dated March 9, 1816, was penned by Napoleon during his post-Waterloo exile on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, and is one of just three known to be in existence, auction house Osenat said.
Addressed to the Count of Las Cases - Napoleon's companion in exile - the letter was acquired by the private Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Paris and originally estimated to fetch just 60,000 to 80,000 euros.
In his "Memorial of Saint Helena", Las Cases wrote about how Napoleon began to correspond with him in English in order to practise the language of his jailers.
The Count also wrote in particular about the auctioned letter, saying: "The emperor did not sleep that night - during his insomnia, he decided to write me a new letter in English."
"He sent it sealed to me, I corrected his errors, and replied to him, in English also, by mail.
He shall land above seven day a ship from Europe that we shall give account from anything who this shall have been even to day of first January thousand eight hundred sixteen.
Napoleon Bonaparte's tentative grasp of English in a letter to the Count of Las Cases
"He understood the letter, and that convinced him of his progress and proved to him that he could, completely, correspond in his new language."
Despite Las Cases' encouraging words, Napoleon's writing required some guesswork.
For instance, in one passage, he wrote: "He shall land above seven day a ship from Europe that we shall give account from anything who this shall have been even to day of first January thousand eight hundred sixteen."
Napoleon was referring to a ship from Europe that would dock in seven days, bringing news on what had happened since January 1, 1816.
After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled to Saint Helena, where he died in 1821 age 51. abc/news//napoleon-letter-sold-at-auction/

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