Tag Archives: Napoleon: Revolution to Empire
Napoleon and the bee
After much consideration, Napoleon chose the bee as the emblem to represent his status as Emperor. It is a motif rich in meanings. Due to its industrious habits the bee has come to symbolise hard work, diligence, industriousness and orderliness. … More
Napoleon, Emperor of the French and Charlemagne, King of the Franks
Although a thousand years (literally) separate Napoleon and Charlemagne, they have a lot in common: both ruled France; both created empires that united much of Western Europe; both crossed the Alps via the Great Saint Bernard Pass to invade northern … More
Les Merveilleuses
Napoleon’s wife to be, Marie-Josèphe-Rose de Tascher de la Pagerie, was one of a small elite of remarkably gifted, charming and alluring young women around whom Parisian Society gathered at the close of the eighteenth century. Out of the chaos … More
Napoleon and the Platypus
Did you know that it was a French Zoologist, Étienne Geoffroy de Saint-Hilaire, at the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, who recognised that the platypus belonged to the rarest of families – Monotremes (along with the echidna)? It was first … More
Flimsy Female Fashion in the age of Napoleon
The garments worn by fashionable young women following the Revolution were famously dominated by muslin. In imitation of the ancient Greeks and Romans whose simplicity and elegance of dress was synonymous with democracy and the Roman Republic, post-Revolutionary Fashion set … More
Napoleon at the Great St Bernard Pass
When you visit the Napoleon exhibition, look closely at the small black & white drawing by Naudet of Napoleon crossing the Alps at the Great St Bernard Pass, and amazingly you will find a French soldier giving a titbit to … More
Napoleon’s hat
The bicorn hat that became synonymous with Napoleon is just a broad brimmed hat with the front and back folded together and pinned. From the front it looks a bit like the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It became so strongly identified … More
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