Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / How Emy Lyon became Emma Hamilton (1765-1815) through the creation, display, and circulation of painted portraits, portrait prints, letters, and architectural imagery is the focus of this dissertation. In it, I make four main claims. First, Emma's introduction to the rituals and rewards of genteel female behavior began in George Romney's studio, and sitting for portraits was an educational process that continued throughout her life. Second, Emma's education continued during her residency in Naples under the care and direction of Sir William Hamilton, and the imagery from this period participates in Emma's transformation from Sir William's mistress to his wife. Portraits and letters after the 1791 marriage advertised traits that Sir William's social circle would find desirable and helped to justify her elevated position. Third, Emma's relationships with powerful women were as essential to her self-fashioning as her relationships with men. Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Angelica Kauffman, and Queen Maria Carolina of Naples served as important role models for Emma, and opportunities for fame and power resulted from her association with them. Finally, upon her return to England in 1800, Emma sought to manipulate the architecture, decoration, and visual representations of Nelson's country home to showcase her virtuous conduct. Throughout the dissertation, I aim to suggest that Emma contributed to the fashioning of her identity and show the ways in which her involvement increased during her lifetime. The other people who contributed to such fashioning of her identity--from artists to lovers to royalty--necessarily play a part in this study. How Emma adapted and responded to the situations that others created is central to my analysis and understanding of self-fashioning. The dissertation ultimately proposes that becoming Emma Hamilton was a complex, life-long process with both constructive and destructive consequences.

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Au fil des bouleversements politiques qui marquent l'espace germanophone et la France entre 1760 et 1800, la transmission du savoir historique voit ses missions, ses contenus et ses modalités profondément transformés. Répertoire d'exemples préparant les futurs souverains à l'exercice du pouvoir, l'enseignement de l'histoire s'insère dans le cadre d'États-nations qui réforment leurs systèmes éducatifs et intègrent une part grandissante de leur population dans la sphère politique. De fortes relations intertextuelles se tissent alors entre les livres d'histoire pour la jeunesse allemande et française – réécritures, traductions, compilations, synthèses, extensions, reprises de textes anciens ou étrangers re-contextualisés dans de nouvelles situations pédagogiques et politiques, qui contribuent à inventer le citoyen/Staatsbürger moderne. Deux formes de représentation sont examinées : les recueils d'histoires exemplaires, et à travers eux les recompositions des rapports entre morale et politique, et les tableaux synoptiques, outils pédagogiques qui mettent en lien les modèles politiques avec des modes d'ordonnancement des faits. Entre émancipation et discipline, ces deux formes induisent différents usages pédagogiques et modes de lecture par l'éducateur et par l'élève. Ces pratiques du texte peuvent à leur tour être modifiées selon les fonctions attribuées à la transmission de l'histoire voulues par le contexte politique : formation de futurs fonctionnaires, éveil de l'enthousiasme chez le citoyen-soldat ou encore complément à la lecture de la presse pour le jeune adulte – fonctions qui impliquent des définitions plus ou moins inclusives de la citoyenneté. / In a time of political upheaval in the Germanies and France, the transmission of historical knowledge underwent a profound transformation that affected its aims, its contents as well as its methods. In earlier periods, history was a collection of examples written as a guide for future sovereigns in order to compensate for their lack of experience. Between 1760 and 1800, an increasing proportion of the population was integrated into the political sphere, especially through gradual reforms in education in the emerging nation states. German and French authors copied, rewrote, synthesized, compiled and expanded upon one another's handbooks or children's books. They also reused and updated older teaching material, thus helping to redefine citizenship. Two forms of historical representation are analyzed: firstly, collections of exemplary stories – and through them the changing relationships between morality and politics. Secondly, such educational tools as timelines and more elaborated forms of historical overviews highlight the links between political models and the presentation of historical facts. Between emancipation and discipline, both forms induced different uses and reading modes from educator and pupil respectively. These uses could be modified according to the functions assigned to the transmission of history in the various political contexts: the training of future officials, the awakening of patriotic enthusiasm in the citizen-soldier or the introduction to a critical reading of the press for young adults – functions that implied a wide range of inclusive or exclusive definitions of citizenship.