NAPOLEON
Napoleon was born in Corsica three months after it officially became part of France. His father Carlo was a lawyer, who managed to have his descent from minor Genoese aristocracy recognised by France.
Apart from opening the doors to Carlo’s own political career, it meant that Napoleon was eligible to attend an elite military school. He was nine years old when he arrived in mainland France . He spent the first three months at a school where he learnt French (people in Corsica still spoke Italian) before joining the military academy in Champagne. It was one of 12 preparatory schools for the Military Academy in Paris.
His five years there were not easy. He was surrounded by the sons of French nobility most of whom were older than him and who considered him a country bumpkin. His thick Corsican accent didn’t help. He concentrated on his studies, proving to be a good student. Mathematics were his strong point and he developed a keen interest in history, particularly ancient Rome.
Napoleon finished his studies at the École Militaire in Paris where he completed a two year course in one year and graduated at 16 as a second lieutenant in the artillery regiment. While he was there his father died of stomach cancer at the age of 38. Napoleon spent some time going backwards and forwards to Corsica to see his family. The French Revolution occurred during this time. In 1793 the family left Corsica and settled in mainland France.
Napoleon was a military man with simple tastes, probably most at home in his campaign camp bed (which can be seen at Les Invalides).
Napoleon was 24 when his military career unexpectedly brought him recognition with his successful tactics against an English attack at Toulon. During the fighting his horse was shot out from under him and he was wounded in the leg by a bayonet (the most serious battle wound he would receive). Five days later he was made a Brigadier General.
Shortly after he turned 26 Napoleon met Josephine de Beauharnais, a 32 year old widow with two children. They were married less than 6 months later, two days before Napoleon left Paris to take over command of the French army in Italy.
Napoleon’s unexpected success in Italy made him a national hero. The street where he and Josephine lived in Paris was renamed “rue de la Victoire”. Napoleon was made a member of the Institute of France.
The question was what would happen next. The “Directory” (French government of the time) wanted him to lead an invasion of England. After checking out the options, he suggested they should take Egypt instead, which would cut off the route between England and the Indes. He assembled a troop of 30,000 soldiers as well as 167 scientists—the “Rosetta Stone” was discovered while they were there.
Napoleon’s army was successful and they took over the Egyptian capital. However the following month, the English Admiral Nelson sank six French ships and captured five others. Napoleon and his troops were stranded in Egypt.
While Napoleon was stranded, he learnt that Josephine had been unfaithful to him. When he returned to Paris he was determined to divorce her.
When he returned Napoleon also learnt that during his absence, Josephine had purchased Malmaison, a country chateau they had looked at buying before his departure to Egypt, but Napoleon had decided it was too expensive.
Happily Josephine’s tears and the pleas of her children softened his resolve. He decided to buy Malmaison (Josephine had borrowed the money for a down payment only). He sent the young architects Percier and Fontaine to renovate the old chateau and it became their “weekender”.
Less than a month after returning to Paris from Egypt, Napoleon was involved in a coup d’état which overthrew the government of the Directory and set up the “Consulate”, run by three Consuls. Napoleon was named “Premier consul”, with his Paris residence at the Luxembourg Palace.
In a very short time he decided he preferred to live in the Tuileries Palace and took over the former Kings’ apartment, sleeping in the same room as Louis XIV, XV and XVI. It remained his official residence when he made himself Emperor in 1804.
The Tuileries Palace in Paris remained the Emperor’s official residence.
Napoleon's original bed from the Tuileries is now displayed in the Empress' bedchamber at the Grand Trianon.
In 1816 Louis XVIII replaced the original eagles on the bedhead, a symbol closely associated with Napoleon, with horns of abundance.
Napoleon's 'N' in the centre of the bedhead was also replaced. It is now showing Louis-Philippe's initials.
Originally Napoleon used the furniture remaining from the royal collection and aristocrats who had emigrated.
Later he started ordering new furniture for all the former royal residences.
In 1808 Napoleon had his official bedchamber at the Tuileries completely redecorated. The ceiling was decorated with grisailles depicting Jupiter, Mars, Apollo and Minerva. Red silk damask decorated with poppies covered the walls. The new bed which you can see above and all the furniture was gilded wood.
It is interesting to see that Napoleon’s architect Percier designed the grand bed in the same style as the beds under the former monarchy. Unlike the Empire beds which were placed parallel to the wall, this grand bed ‘a la duchesse’ was designed to be at right angles to the wall. The canopy and curtains of the bed were in white satin decorated with gold stars. This bed was later reused by Louis XVIII, Louis-Philippe and his wife Marie-Amelie.
Malmaison had to share him as an out of Paris getaway. He decided to use Marie-Antoinette’s former chateau at Saint Cloud as another residence. He spent 3 million francs on repairs and decorating it.
Although Napoleon personally had simple tastes, like Louis XIV he understood the economic, political and social power associated with appearances. To revive the Lyon silk industry , Napoleon ordered silk by the kilometre to refurbish the former royal residences. The “Empire” style, both in dress and décor was a return to the antique Roman inspiration and the furniture he favoured was noble, rigid and cold.
On becoming Emperor in 1804, Napoleon decided to adopt many of the French monarchy’s traditions, including restoring other former residences of the kings. Arguably the most important of these was Fontainebleau.
Fontainebleau was the only royal residence to have been continuously used for seven centuries. During the French Revolution it had been emptied of all its furniture and served as a school, a prison, a storage place for wheat and a military school.
On becoming Emperor, Napoleon had the chateau restored. He had decided all the royal chateaux would
now become imperial chateaux.
The refurbishment was completed in a few months to have it ready to accommodate the Pope. Napoleon met him at Fontainebleau, the Pope’s last stop on his way to attend Napoleon’s coronation at the end of 1804. They stayed at the chateau for three days before going on to Paris. (The pope would later return there as Napoleon’s prisoner between 1812 and 1814 when he occupied the sumptuous former apartments of Anne of Austria, Louis XIV’s mother but that’s another story)
Napoleon did not like the public performance of the former kings’ bedchamber. He converted the King’s
bedroom into a throne room and set up his official bedchamber in the former private apartments of Louis XVI.
The throne and the rest of the furniture is original.
Next to his official bedchamber, Napoleon had a smaller bedchamber which doubled as an office. He
commissioned a special mechanical desk with a top which could slide across in an instant. A small bed was placed there. It was the same sort of bed used on the field of battle, covered in green taffeta. Next to the smaller bedchamber Napoleon had a small salon. It was in this room he signed his abdication in 1814 (the original furniture including the table he signed on are still there).
Beyond that, Napoleon had a bathroom installed. The tin plated copper bath was covered in muslin. It is
original, as well as the mahogany chairs.
In 1810, Napoleon decided to extend his private apartment, taking over the rooms on the ground floor beneath his official apartment on the “noble” (first) floor.
He moved the bed he had on the first floor in his official bedchamber and replaced it with what we see today.
The bed and chairs which were placed in the new private bedroom downstairs were originally at the
Tuileries palace.
They are covered in velvet and reflect the taste for Egyptian style at the time.
Napoleon’s ground floor apartment could be directly accessed by a spiral staircase which led to
his new personal library. Napoleon was a big reader and took books in chests with him when
he went to battle. Each of his residences had a library. The books are original from the time of
Napoleon in 1810. The Fontainebleau library doubled as an office. Napoleon’s private
secretary, Baron de Méneval would take dictation standing behind the desk.
Napoleon had employed Bourrienne, a school friend from the military school in Champagne as his private secretary when he was first put in charge of the Army of Italy. When Bourrienne was
compromised in a fraudulent business transaction, Napoleon replaced him with 24 year old Claude-François de Méneval in 1802.
Méneval travelled with Napoleon wherever he went. Napoleon made him a baron in 1810.
He remained loyal to Napoleon right through to the end. Napoleon regarded him as a “treasure”.
In his will Napoleon remembered him as zealous, discreet and prepared to work at any hour. He
said: “He never gave me anything but satisfaction and was always agreeable and I loved him very
much.” He left him 100,000 francs. Méneval lived in a chateau and became the local mayor.
He was in Paris at the ceremony returning Napoleon’s remains from Saint Helena in 1840.
NAPOLEON AND VERSAILLES
When Napoleon decided to re-establish all the former royal chateaux as imperial chateaux he appointed Duroc, who had been with him to the campaign in Italy and in Egypt, as Grand Maréchal du Palais. He was on every campaign with Napoleon but he was also responsible for his personal security which meant he was heavily involved in any plans for imperial residences.
While work was going on at Fontainebleau in preparation for the Pope’s arrival, Duroc was sent to Versailles. It was still intact, with the furniture gone and royal emblems removed. It had been used intermittently as a museum. The gardens had been neglected and the fountains and Grand Canal were empty.
Napoleon commissioned an architect to draw up plans for his “grand project” to occupy Versailles. The naturalist he appointed to work on the garden accompanied him to Italy to select sculptures to bring back for Versailles. Silk was ordered from Lyon and tapestries from Gobelins.
The first plans from the architect were not well received by Napoleon’s chief architect Pierre Fontaine (who resented not being given the project) so Napoleon dropped the idea for the time.
He would later have plans drawn up by architects under Fontaine to turn Versailles into a palace for his second wife Marie-Louise, great niece of Marie-Antoinette. They were considered OTT and Napoleon wanted them revised. War and Napoleon’s subsequent exile would prevent the project from happening.
The Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon were a different story.
Napoleon had given the Grand Trianon to his mother and the Petit Trianon to his favourite sister Pauline.
Furniture was delivered but “Madame Mère”, as Napoleon’s mother was known, had no interest in the Grand Trianon, largely because it had no bathrooms and toilets.
Josephine had been working with Napoleon on re-furnishing the Grand Trianon in 1809. At the end of that year Napoleon divorced her and it was his new wife Marie-Louise who would occupy the Empress’ apartment.
To make access easier between his apartment and the new Empress’, Napoleon, who felt the cold very badly, had the peristyle enclosed with glass. In the 20th century the glass was removed.
Napoleon’s new five room apartment at the Grand Trianon combined the former apartments of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. It had full length doors opening on to the gardens in a private courtyard.
The first time Napoleon stayed overnight at the Grand Trianon was December 15 1809, the day
after officially signing the divorce papers with Josephine. The next day he went to Malmaison to
see her and organised for Josephine and her daughter Hortense to join him at the Grand Trianon
for Christmas day.
Ten weeks later Napoleon married Marie-Louise, the eighteen year old daughter of the Austrian
Emperor by proxy in Vienna.
Three years after starting restoration of the Chateau of Fontainebleau, Napoleon ordered work to start on another former royal residence at Compiègne.
Napoleon had divorced Josephine because he wanted to have an heir.*
The lucky lady was the eldest daughter of the Austrian Emperor. Just as he was renovating the former residences of the kings, he was now to marry Marie-Antoinette’s great niece. Napoleon, who always
had a great sense of history chose to meet his new bride at the Palace of Compiègne, as Louis XVI had
done when Marie-Antoinette had arrived from Austria forty years earlier.
*When Josephine did not get pregnant, Napoleon assumed he was the problem because she already had two children.
He was fairly relaxed with the situation. He had organised the marriage of his younger brother Louis to Josephine’s daughter Hortense. When they had a son he thought he would be a suitable heir.
Napoleon had an illegitimate son at the end of 1806 but it appears he was not entirely convinced the child was his, in spite of the resemblance. It was when the young Polish countess Marie Walewska became pregnant he had no doubt he was the father of the child. He divorced Josephine (who was 46 at that stage) when Marie was pregnant. There was no thought he would marry Marie.
He began his search for what he bluntly described as a “womb”. His ambition was to marry the sister of the Russian Tsar or the daughter of the Austrian Emperor. His dynasty was in play. Marie gave birth to a son five weeks after Napoleon greeted his new bride at Compiègne.