Un territoire est indéniablement associé à Napoléon et à sa légende dans l'esprit des populations. Il ne s'agit pas de la Corse, lieu de naissance, mais bien de Sainte-Hélène, lieu d’exil, de mort mais aussi de construction de la légende napoléonienne. C'est sur cette île de l'Atlantique sud qu'entre 1815 et 1821 celui qui, pendant plus de vingt ans, a fait trembler l'Europe, vit les dernières années de son existence. Le captif pendant toutes les années de sa détention sur Sainte-Hélène n'est peut-être à aucun autre moment de sa vie si étroitement observé. Cependant, les Français, entre 1815 et 1821, ignorent ce qui se passe sur cette île perdue de l’Atlantique sud. Les nouvelles sur ce personnage sont rares sinon absentes et l'absence d'information véridique sur les événements de l'île est considérable. Ce constat est accentué par la situation de Sainte-Hélène. Il s'agit d'un lieu éloigné, inconnu et difficilement compréhensible pour la grandes majorités des Français du XIXe siècle. Cette absence d'information entraine les plus folles rumeurs. Effectivement, les fausses nouvelles parsèment l'exil de Napoléon, des Français répandent des bruits, prétendent connaître la vérité et la transmettre généralement oralement, plus rarement par l'écrit, aux autres. Si les bruits sont essentiellement émis entre 1815 et 1821 ils se poursuivent au cours des années 1820 et même au-delà par de multiples relais.Nombre de bruits et d'ouvrages offrent de multiples histoires toutes plus sensationnelles les unes par rapport aux autres sur l'exil de Napoléon. Parmi elles, Napoléon s'est évadé de Sainte‑Hélène. De véritables faits ont inspiré les nombreuses théories évasionistes qui fleurissent à partir de 1815. Ainsi, des projets d’enlèvement ont indéniablement été pensés. Néanmoins, aucun des plans n’est mis à exécution, amenant en conséquence un questionnement sur les raisons de l’absence de leur concrétisation, n'ont-ils pas simplement été de simples échanges verbaux entre Bonapartistes ?Enfin, les rumeurs perdurent après 1821 en partie grâce aux arts. En effet, l'internement de Napoléon a beaucoup été représenté par la littérature, la peinture et plus récemment par le cinéma. Par exemple, de très nombreux auteurs du XIXe siècle se sont inspirés du séjour de l'Empereur à Sainte-Hélène de façon plus ou moins évidente et ont réinvesti les éléments constitutifs de la légende.Toutes les rumeurs et les représentations artistiques de la captivité déforment les dernières années de Napoléon. Or, ces représentations altérées restent dans la mémoire collective car elles sont plus faciles à retenir, elles sont de meilleures histoires que la réalité... Et donc, la mythologie fini par altérer la réalité historique. Par exemple, l'idée d’un Napoléon humilié en permanence par les Anglais est ancrée dans la mentalité populaire comme parmi les élites. D'ailleurs cette distorsion de la réalité est une partie intégrante de la légende napoléonienne. Sans l'idée du calvaire de Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène prisonnier des puissances de la Sainte-Alliance et l’image négative de Hudson Lowe, la figure du captif auprès des libéraux et des nationalistes au XIXe siècle n’aurait pas été la même. La légende de Sainte-Hélène est donc une partie fondamentale de l’histoire napoléonienne. / A territory is undeniably associated with Napoleon and his legend in the minds of the peoples. It is not a question of Corsica, place of birth, but of Saint Helena, place of exile, of death but also of construction of the napoleonic legend. It is on this island of the South Atlantic that between 1815 and 1821 he who, during more than twenty years, made tremble Europe, saw the last years of its existence. The captive during all the years of his detention on St. Helena Napoléon is closely observed. However, the French, between 1815 and 1821, do not know what is happening on this lost island of the South Atlantic. News about this character is rare if not absent and the lack of truthful information about the events of the island is considerable. This observation is accentuated by the situation of St. Helena. It is a distant place, unknown and difficult to understand for the great majority of the French of the nineteenth century. This lack of information leads to the wildest rumors. Indeed, the false news strew the exile of Napoleon, French spread noises, claim to know the truth and to transmit it generally orally, more rarely in writing, to others. If the noises are essentially emitted between 1815 and 1821 they continue during the 1820s and even beyond by multiple relays. Many noises and books offer multiple stories all about Napoleon's exile. Among them, Napoleon escaped from Saint Helena. Real facts have inspired the many evasive theories that flourished from 1815. Thus, kidnapping projects have undeniably been thought out. Nevertheless, none of the plans are put into execution, leading consequently a questioning on the reasons of the absence of their concretization. Maybe, they were simple verbal exchanges between Bonapartists? Finally, rumors endure after 1821 partly thanks to the arts. Indeed, the internment of Napoleon was much represented by literature, painting and more recently by cinema. For example, many nineteenth-century writers drew inspiration from the Emperor's stay in Saint Helena in a more or less obvious way and re-invested the constituent elements of the legend. All the rumors and artistic representations of captivity distort the last years of Napoleon. However, these altered representations remain in the collective memory because they are easier to remember, they are better stories than reality ... And so, mythology ended up altering the historical reality. For example, the idea of ​​a Napoleon permanently humiliated by the British is rooted in the popular mentality as among the elites. Moreover this distortion of reality is an integral part of the Napoleonic legend. Without the idea of ​​Napoleon's ordeal on St. Helena prisoner of the Holy Alliance and the negative image of Hudson Lowe, the figure of the captive among liberals and nationalists in the nineteenth century would not have been the same. The legend of St. Helena is therefore a fundamental part of Napoleonic history.

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar alguns pontos da construção simbólica do poder de napoleão bonaparte, em sua relação direta com um projeto de personalização do poder e de legitimação política, captando seu significado em meio ao universo de práticas e representações políticas de fins do século XVIIIe início do XIX.Privilegiamos alguns de seus aspectos, como a estruturação de uma imagem pública em associação com o fortalecimento e legalização de seu governo, procurando entendê-los no interior do conflito entre inovação e conservação, ou seja, de distanciamento ou aproximação dos modelos e convenções de construção simbólica do poder já utilizados durante o antigo regime. Para tanto, observamos os elementos de propaganda implícitos na fabricação da imagem napoleônica e na legitimação de seu poder, buscando perceber igualmente a dinâmica de sua elaboração e as repercussões desta imagem no imaginário coletivo. deparamo-nos, assim, com diversos "Bonapartes" e "Napoleões", ficções sociais construídas pelo uso de um conjunto de criações culturais. / The purpose of this work is to analyze some points of the symbolic construction of Napoleon Bonaparte's power, In its direct relationship with a personalizing project of power and of political legitimation, catching its meaning in a universe of political practices and representations in the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries. We give privilege to some of its aspects, like the structure of the public image associated with the empowerment and legalization of his government, trying to understand them within the inner conflict between innovation and conservation, i.e., the distancing or approaching of the models and conventions of power's symbolic construction already used during the Ancien Regime. To this, we observe the elements of propaganda that are implicit in the construction of the Napoleonic image and in the legitimation of his power, aiming to realize equally the dynamics of its formation and the repercussions of this image in the collective imaginary. We face, therefore, several "Bonaparte" and "Napoleons", social fictions built by the lise of a set of cultural creations.

Entre 1814 et 1830, 243 préfets se succèdent au service des derniers Bourbons, Louis XVIII et Charles X, au cours des deux Restaurations, que sépare en 1815 l’épisode des Cent-Jours. Chargées de représenter le souverain dans les départements, ces personnalités sont, sauf exception, tombées dans l’oubli. De leur étude dépend pourtant la compréhension des rouages administratifs du pays et des modalités d’intervention de l’État. Les préfets incarnent peut-être mieux que quiconque la tension entre le maintien des structures administratives héritées de l’an VIII et la volonté de « renouer la chaîne des temps » avec l’Ancien Régime, tension qui est le propre de la Restauration. Tous d’ailleurs n’ont pas la même idée de la monarchie constitutionnelle et de ses institutions, dont ils sont partie prenante au cours de leur existence, que ce soit comme administrateurs, membres des assemblées locales, députés, pairs de France ou ministres ; tous n’ont pas la même idée de leurs rapports au roi, à la patrie et au département confié à leurs soins. Aussi participent-ils pleinement du règne des derniers Bourbons, que nombre de contemporains, Chateaubriand et Balzac en tête, définissent comme un temps des plus composites. Aussi donnent-ils à voir une mosaïque dont cette étude de prosopographie se veut le reflet le plus fidèle possible. / Between 1814 and 1830, during the two Restorations, the “Cent-Jours” excepted, 243 prefects serve the last Bourbons, Louis XVIII and Charles X. All these personalities represent the sovereign in the departments. With a few exceptions, they are forgotten nowadays. But it seems necessary to study them in order to understand the French administration and the public action, especially during the period considered. French Restoration’s prefects embody perhaps better than anyone the tension which exists at that time between the will to keep the administrative structures created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800 and the temptation to recreate the old monarchy. For that matter, all of them don’t understand in the same way the constitutional monarchy and its institutions. They don’t have the same idea of the king, the fatherland and the department they have to run. Thus, they are emblematic of the last Bourbon’s reign, defined by many writers of this period, for instance Chateaubriand and Balzac, as a genuine mixed time. They consequently compose a mosaic of men we tried to analyze as rigorously as possible in the prosopographic study.

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar alguns pontos da construção simbólica do poder de napoleão bonaparte, em sua relação direta com um projeto de personalização do poder e de legitimação política, captando seu significado em meio ao universo de práticas e representações políticas de fins do século XVIIIe início do XIX.Privilegiamos alguns de seus aspectos, como a estruturação de uma imagem pública em associação com o fortalecimento e legalização de seu governo, procurando entendê-los no interior do conflito entre inovação e conservação, ou seja, de distanciamento ou aproximação dos modelos e convenções de construção simbólica do poder já utilizados durante o antigo regime. Para tanto, observamos os elementos de propaganda implícitos na fabricação da imagem napoleônica e na legitimação de seu poder, buscando perceber igualmente a dinâmica de sua elaboração e as repercussões desta imagem no imaginário coletivo. deparamo-nos, assim, com diversos "Bonapartes" e "Napoleões", ficções sociais construídas pelo uso de um conjunto de criações culturais. / The purpose of this work is to analyze some points of the symbolic construction of Napoleon Bonaparte's power, In its direct relationship with a personalizing project of power and of political legitimation, catching its meaning in a universe of political practices and representations in the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries. We give privilege to some of its aspects, like the structure of the public image associated with the empowerment and legalization of his government, trying to understand them within the inner conflict between innovation and conservation, i.e., the distancing or approaching of the models and conventions of power's symbolic construction already used during the Ancien Regime. To this, we observe the elements of propaganda that are implicit in the construction of the Napoleonic image and in the legitimation of his power, aiming to realize equally the dynamics of its formation and the repercussions of this image in the collective imaginary. We face, therefore, several "Bonaparte" and "Napoleons", social fictions built by the lise of a set of cultural creations.

My dissertation examines visual representations of children and childhood in French art from the 1750s until the first decades of the nineteenth century. This period in France is distinct because of the sweeping social and political changes with which images of children and childhood were in dialogue, including the redefinition of bourgeois familial relationships, new medical discoveries that influenced how artists interpreted the human mind and body, the chaos of the French Revolution, and the rise of Napoleon and his codification of the laws of nature. By 1750, Enlightenment thinkers and social reformers viewed the education, nurturing, and protection of innocent children as among the fundamental moral acts that defined humanity. Childhood, once considered insignificant, became a special period of human development that women were naturally suited to cultivate. Amidst the corruption of the Ancien régime, the violence of the French Revolution, and the instability of the state, children were unthreatening emblems of social regeneration and hope. Throughout my dissertation, I explore how the complex written and visual language of nature informed artists’ conceptions of children and childhood during the long eighteenth century. Opposing themes of nature’s wildness, containment, wholesomeness, and mysteriousness in different forms paralleled discourses on children and child-rearing. Prominent eighteenth-century artists like Chardin, Boucher, Fragonard, Greuze, Vigée Lebrun, Marguerite Gérard, and others analyzed contemporary scientific, philosophical, artistic, and pedagogical movements to depict children naturally. Even when Romantic artists like Géricault or Prud’hon imagined nature as a dangerous or mystical entity, the emphasis on the unique truthfulness of a child’s character continued to be a subject of great interest, especially when the scientific community recognized child psychology and pediatrics as their own fields of medical study in the early nineteenth century. Compared to studies that have broadly surveyed the ideologies of childhood as reflected in art, my dissertation investigates the socio-historical contexts in which representations of children were commissioned, produced, and displayed. Why did revolutionary events, artists, and patrons appropriate images of the enlightened child? I propose that representations of children from this period offer indisputable symbolic value: they functioned emblematically to advance the morality of a woman’s reputation, or to philosophically communicate an idea about the state of French society during key moments of social and political upheaval. Through a study of images of pastoral children for Madame de Pompadour, representations of bourgeois children with pets, portrayals of the royal children during the French Revolution, and Romantic depictions of children in portraiture, my dissertation traces the socio-historical implications of the representations of children and childhood to make way for new interpretations of artworks.

Despite the inherently multivalent nature of images of Napoleon Bonaparte created during the middle of the nineteenth century, scholars often employ only one lens to interpret them: the political context of the age in which they were created. In doing so, they effectively separate these images from the wider art historical narrative. A second—and equally fraught—effect of this tendency is the perpetuation of dominant assumptions that the popularity of his image was due to his status as a “Great Man.” This dissertation examines a subset of mid-century Napoleonic imagery that demonstrates the flawed nature of neglecting other approaches to interpreting these works: depictions of the Emperor’s resurrection. These images frequently portray the Emperor as an inherently democratic, republican, or Populist force that derives its power not from Napoleon’s identity, but from the creativity, commemorative work, or critical thinking of the audience and the French people. This dissertation closely examines these images in their artistic and cultural contexts, applying cultural art historical methodology and close iconographical analysis to works that are either absent from or marginalized in the art historical narrative. In doing so, it reveals Napoleonic resurrection imagery’s potential for commenting on changing social mores that privileged the cultural agency of the French people at mid-century. The underlying argument of this study is that Napoleon was a popular artistic subject not because of his status as a “Great Man,” but because of his endlessly mutable identity. This mutability facilitated the creation of new forms of art and knowledge while allowing the French people to reflect upon their place in the changing cultural and artistic milieu. By demonstrating that this admittedly narrow subset of Napoleonic representation is open to cultural analysis, this dissertation opens up new avenues of inquiry for scholars of the Napoleonic Revival. The first chapter of this study is a largely theoretical examination of Napoleonic “ghosts” and their connection to the strained relationship between fine art and popular culture as well as the masses and “Great Men.” Chapter two analyzes several images in which academically trained artists use Christ-like Napoleonic imagery to engage with the rising cultural and creative agency of the lower classes. The third chapter examines the political implications of the Napoleonic Revival. However, unlike earlier studies, it does so through the lens of the ongoing conflict between cultural narratives passed down from a centralized authority and popular culture that challenges these narratives. In particular, it contrasts the July Monarchy regime’s marginalization of the “real” Napoleon with public enthusiasm for the image of his corpse. Finally, the dissertation considers Paul Delaroche’s Napoleonic series in the context of the shifting locus of artistic production during the period.

This study examines self-fashioning and the practice of collecting in Second Empire Paris as manifest in James Tissot's Jeunes femmes regardant des objets japonais (1869, Cincinnati Museum of Art). The painting, exhibited in the Salon of 1869, conspicuously portrays Tissot's own collection of exotic Asian collectibles and the artist's private luxe interior. When scholars investigate and interpret Jeunes femmes, it is regularly defined within the prescriptive realm of Tissot's later London paintings, or of his well known series, La Femme à Paris. I argue for a less circumspect engagement with the painting, by focusing on the portrayal of the collectible objects and the decadent interior as evidence of bourgeois self-fashioning and the decorous display and consumption concomitant with Second Empire Paris. This thesis considers the history of collecting in Second Empire Paris; in particular, the early impact of japonisme on Tissot's artwork. Recent scholarship largely regards Tissor's initial engagement with japonisme, as demonstrated by Japonaise au bain (1864, Muse des Beaux-Arts, Dijon) and Jeune femme tenant des objets japonais (1865, Private Collection), as trite. I argue that such categorizing biased sound consideration of Jeunes femmes. I investigate Tissot's interaction with Japanese aristocracy and contend that his appointment as drawing instructor to Prince Akitake marked a turning point in his artistic career and in his reputation as a collector. This thesis also explores the role of fetish as an operative analytical tool. By employing the theories of Freudian and Marxist fetish, I am able to scrutinize the collectible objects' inclusion and meticulous representation, account for the obsessive nature of the collector and investigate specific strategies of posturing and self-promotion. Moreover, I can discuss the painting, and the collection it portrays, as a producing agent for Tissot's own artistic and social legacy. Ultimately, I conclude that Jeunes femmes, a richly detailed painting of Tissot's collectibles and interior space, is implicitly concerned with bourgeois self-fashioning and Tissot's own need for financial and social legitimization.

Zugl.: Giessen, Univ., Diss., 2004

Zugl.: Dresden, Techn. Univ., Diss.

Issued also as thesis, Cologne. / Bibliography: p. [321]-324.