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JUNE 11, 2009
Napoleon and America
By JULIA M. KLEIN
Philadelphia
Born on the French island colony of Corsica, Napoleon Bonaparte admired the American Revolution and wrote of
George Washington: "His cause is that of humanity." But he modeled his reign after the Roman emperors',
appropriating their imagery, pursuing European domination, and sponsoring great public works projects, a new legal
code and a classical renaissance in the arts.
Drawn from the extraordinary collection of Pierre-Jean Chalençon, the exhibition "Napoléon" is rich in objects
denoting Napoleon's imperial ambitions and stature: the gilded bronze sword used, in 1804, to proclaim him emperor;
a red velvet coronation foot cushion embroidered with bees, his favorite emblem; a portrait by Baron François Gérard
showing Napoleon wearing a laurel crown and a heavy necklace emblazoned with eagles.
These items -- and dozens of other artifacts of great rarity and interest -- are on view through Sept. 7 at the National
Constitution Center, the sixth stop on a national tour that will end in Anaheim, Calif., and St. Louis, Mo.
For all his achievements and popularity within France, Napoleon (1769-1821) was neither a democrat nor a
constitutionalist. So this celebration of his life and career -- the show inclines toward hagiography -- seems at first
jarring in a museum dedicated to one of this country's founding documents.
But text panels under the rubric "American Connections," developed to deal with this conundrum, go a considerable
distance toward bridging the gap between Napoleon's world and our own. The most obvious connection is Napoleon's
decision as First Consul of France to sell the fledgling U.S. a sprawling piece of real estate -- the 1803 Louisiana
Purchase, a bargain transaction that assured America's westward expansion. (The so-called Napoleonic Code remains
the foundation of law in the state of Louisiana.)
But the exhibition also credits Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign for inspiring the obelisk form of the Washington
Monument. It cites the influence of First Empire style on James Monroe's White House, the importance of Napoleon's
military tactics to Civil War generals trained at West Point, and the effects of the Napoleonic Wars on American
shipping and diplomacy. Some connections are surprising: Two of Napoleon's brothers lived for a time in the U.S., and
Napoleon's grand-nephew, Charles Joseph Bonaparte, a U.S. attorney general, founded the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in 1908.
Mr. Chalençon, interviewed by phone from his apartment in Paris, points to additional conceptual links: the notion of
Napoleon as a "self-made man" and his protection of minority rights. Not only did Napoleon liberalize the treatment of
Jews, Mr. Chalençon says, but he was tolerant of gays in the French military. "Certainly, he was a visionary," the
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collector says.
From his trove of about 1,000 objects, including 350 books from Napoleon's library, Mr. Chalençon says he has lent
about 400 to the show. These include the first item he acquired, a gift from his mother when he was 12: an 1815
printed poster warning of Napoleon's return to France after his escape from captivity on Elba. (Napoleon's 100-day
return to power is the origin of our own fixation with the first 100 days of presidential terms, the exhibition says.)
Organized both chronologically and thematically, "Napoléon" begins by suggesting that its subject remains an enigma,
as well as the focus of enduring fascination. An introductory panel asks visitors to consider contradictory views of
Napoleon, as "a fearless warrior or a military dictator," "a self-made man or a despot," "a patron of the arts or a shrewd
propagandist," "an enlightened legislator or the iron-fisted ruler of nearly all of Europe."
These labels aren't mutually exclusive, and the exhibition admits as much. It makes clear that Napoleon commissioned
artworks that transformed his already impressive military victories into heroic narratives -- in one case, for instance,
substituting a white steed for the mule Napoleon actually rode across the Alps. And it notes that he could genuinely
revere the austere and self-effacing George Washington while maintaining a lavish court, ornamented by Sèvres
porcelain, marble sculpture and silk tapestries.
That the show's overall tone, like Mr. Chalençon's, is unabashedly admiring is not surprising, considering that Mr.
Chalençon served as head curator. The iPod tour, which can be purchased as a supplement, declares, for example, that
"Napoléon's near photographic memory, administrative intelligence, and relentless energy made him one of the most
brilliant statesmen to ever live."
"Of course, he sometimes made some mistakes -- nobody's perfect," Mr. Chalençon says, without evident irony.
Instead of dwelling on Napoleon's hubris or appetite for conquest, he argues that the emperor's greatest failures
involved being "too sentimental" and "too generous" to both his large family and traitors within his regime, including
his double-dealing adviser, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord.
Sentimentality, however, did not interfere with Napoleon's decision to annul his marriage to his great love, Josephine,
and marry the much younger Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria in pursuit of an heir. At the 1809 annulment
ceremony, the still-loyal Josephine called her separation from him "the greatest proof of attachment and devotion ever
offered on this earth." The exhibition has the gold-embossed red Morocco leather portfolio in which she carried the
annulment papers, as well as her monogrammed tortoise-shell box and a lock of her hair.
Napoleon's pragmatic marital choice led to some unexpected ironies, the exhibition points out. Napoleon's son with
Marie-Louise, Napoleon II, would die at 21, without progeny, while Josephine's descendants -- she had two children by
a previous marriage -- would populate the thrones of Europe. Her grandson, Louis-Napoleon, who was also the son of
Napoleon's brother, Louis, would rule France as emperor from 1852 to 1870.
With artifacts of astonishing intimacy and power -- a letter the Italian-speaking Napoleon wrote at age 14 from his
Parisian military school, his enameled gold snuffbox, the lotto game he played with both his wives, grapeshot from his
last stand at Waterloo -- "Napoléon" traces a classic narrative of rise and fall. It doesn't offer a detailed description of
the general's many military campaigns -- just as well -- but it displays the map on which he marked his conquests with
pins, the collapsible bed he used in the field, one of his signature black-felt hats, his Legion of Honor medallion, and
the English prints that captured the pathos of his Russian defeats.
In the end, having endured too many losses and betrayals, Napoleon ended his life in exile and penury, with a few loyal
friends, on the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena. And Mr. Chalençon has followed him there, snagging a
monogrammed, bloodstained shirt that Napoleon wore, his silver cutlery and personal toilet items -- and a memoir by
Josephine that he read shortly before he died, on May 5, 1821, probably of stomach cancer.
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And we are not done yet. In a lovingly preserved fragment of the deposed emperor's original coffin and a vial
containing dirt from St. Helena, we see the beginnings of the cult of Napoleon -- to which the passionate Mr.
Chalençon is a worthy heir.
Ms. Klein is a cultural reporter and critic in Philadelphia and a contributing editor at Columbia
Journalism Review .
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page D6
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