The Holey Flag

It is holey alright. Bullet ridden is the actual description. Hehehehe.

I little pun about the condition of this flag. You won't be seeing the Union Jack on this blog again anytime soon. Shot up during the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar. This British flag flew on a captured French ship and survived to this day in a drawer belonging to the heirs of the officer who received the flag from his crew. It was sent to be auctioned earlier this year.

The auctioneers thought it would fetch about $15,000 Euros at auction.

Well it sold for $660,000 US dollars which is 40 times the estimate.

I post that information here for two reasons.

1. If Napoleon's name is attached to anything...prices skyrocket.

2. The man is still making news.

Napoleon and Hard Boiled Eggs

This is an image I bet you weren't expecting.

But I can't stop thinking about hard boiled eggs.

I am reading about Napoleons surprise return to France from his first incarceration/resettlement on Elba. I am a bit disappointed to learn he didn't get a very friendly reception. But I am still at the point in the book where he is working his way inland to Paris.

Anyway, back to the eggs.

The only sustenance he is appearing to take is hard boiled eggs.

He was really worried about being poisoned and I forget that the egg is one of the few foods that you can eat that can't be tampered with. Well back then anyway. Nowadays you could insert poison with a teeny tiny needle...but they didn't have those options in Napoleons day...thank goodness!

So I am reading, craving hard boiled eggs and waiting for a point in the book to arrive where his troops start rallying around him. I'll keep you posted.

Napoleon Can Be Everywhere

I am just back from an art workshop in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. I love travelling to the United States during the fall. The flights are all on time and the changing colours make most of my destinations a photographers dream.

I was having a coffee in a little cafe on Main Street on Sunday and looked up at this series of pictures. Do you see what I saw? I tried not to stare too long. There were too elderly gentleman sitting right below these pictures and I think they thought I was attempting to make eye contact.

I waited until they left so I could get in close.

Isn't this Josephine?

I am certain I have seen this litho somewhere.

Now I am home and bound and determined to find it. If you know the picture...please post!

All I was thinking was I never get away from Napoleon and Napoleonic imagery. Even in a small town like Cedarburg I see him.

Oh, and this is the hinged copper locket I made in one of the workshops. Note Napoleon is my inspiration as always. So he would have been in Cedarburg even if I had not seen Josephine.

The Not So Fascinating

Friends.

I have been avoiding my Napoleon blog.

I have a good reason and a person to blame.

Madame de Stael. Or best use the full name. Germaine de Stael.

I got a copy of this book this summer. I was determined to learn more about the woman Napoleon exiled

You have to wonder. What did she do? Run an underground anti-Napoleon print shop? Did she write a pamphlet poking fun? Did she speak out at public rallies calling him a despot?

Looks to me like she hosted a whole lot of parties where other people in attendance may have done things like that. For the life of me, I am not sure how she could have been so important.

The book title say: The fascinating account of her conflict with Napoleon as related in her own memoirs. Trust me. Not so fascinating. In fact, I think the book was edited by her son to say almost nothing about Napoleon. Perhaps when he decided to publish it Napoleon was popular again.

I know what you are thinking. "She's biased. She won't like anyone Napoleon didn't." True. But this time I am with Napoleon. I would have exiled her for this boring memoir. Two thirds of the way through I put it down and picked up the memoirs of Catherine the Great. Now that's a great read! But I finished that book and faced with this one again I decided to admit defeat.

But back to Germaine. I am shutting the book whilst admitting there are 80 more pages to go...and there might be something big I am missing.

She does recount a conversation Napoleon apparently had with a senator.

"What do people think of the Duke d'Enghien's death?"

"General," he replied, "they are very upset."

"That does not surprise me, said Bonaparte. A family that
has ruled in a country for a long time is always the focus of interest."

So I am saying au revoir to Madame. Let's get back to Napoleon and family.

He's Still Got It

This is a current ad for the watch company Breguet.

Apparently Napoleon was a client.

That is a receipt I would really like to see.

Marie Antoinette was a client too.