Academic literature on the topic 'Napoleon Propaganda'

The Illyrian Provinces, a part of the 1st French Empire which existed in the years 1809-1813, are often portrayed as a political entity which anticipated various projects of the political emancipation of the South Slavs. However, the link between later pan-South-Slavic movements and the Napoleonic political activity is a matter which still remains unclear and deserves some in-depth analysis. Most often the Napoleonic impact on the evolution of the nascent South-Slavic nationalisms is viewed in the perspective of the posterior political attitudes of the Croat, Slovene or Serbian elites towards the French, and their own interpretations of the Napoleonic impact on the pan-South-Slavic movement. The proposed paper will concentrate on the opposite approach and will investigate how French perceived the South Slavs in the perspective of the nascent nationalisms, especially that French propaganda presented Napoleon as the savior of the European nations including the „Illyrian” one. But how French defined this „Illyrian” nation? This question can be answered thanks to the French strive for description of the societies inhabiting Illyrian Provinces.

The Illyrian Provinces, a part of the 1st French Empire which existed in the years 1809-1813, are often portrayed as a political entity which anticipated various projects of the political emancipation of the South Slavs. However, the link between later pan-South-Slavic movements and the Napoleonic political activity is a matter which still remains unclear and deserves some in-depth analysis. Most often the Napoleonic impact on the evolution of the nascent South-Slavic nationalisms is viewed in the perspective of the posterior political attitudes of the Croat, Slovene or Serbian elites towards the French, and their own interpretations of the Napoleonic impact on the pan-South-Slavic movement. The proposed paper will concentrate on the opposite approach and will investigate how French perceived the South Slavs in the perspective of the nascent nationalisms, especially that French propaganda presented Napoleon as the savior of the European nations including the „Illyrian” one. But how French defined this „Illyrian” nation? This question can be answered thanks to the French strive for description of the societies inhabiting Illyrian Provinces.

Petitions, loyal addresses, plebiscites, and other displays of popular consent accompanied most episodes of the revolutionary and Napoleonic expansion of France between 1789 and 1814. Petitioning had been adapted and transformed in France during the revolution, through which it became associated to popular sovereignty. Historians have often studied popular mobilisation through the prism of the conquest of rights, thereby pitting subordinate groups against entrenched ruling classes. This article surveys a different development, as French revolutionary administrators and generals, and Napoleon himself, adapted and reconfigured petitioning as a top-down tool for territorial expansion and empire-building, using it to invoke the supposed popular acquiescence to their reconfiguration of the political map of Europe. French propaganda portrayed these initiatives within the same interpretative framework that discussed the value of other, more autonomous, petitions. This work will thus analyse the paradox of top-down-controlled mobilisations that, at the same time, reinforced the symbolic pre-eminence of popular consent and participation.

The article refers to the connection between royalist publicism and anti-Napoleonic caricature through the example of two etchings from the Khanenko Museum collection. The task of royalist propaganda was to undermine the authority of Napoleon Bonaparte and, at the same time, to set society in favor of the Bourbon restoration. This causes the specifics of the anti-Napoleonic pamphlets and caricatures, which were usually focused on creating of the repulsive images of the emperor. At the same time, it is easy to notice that the authors of texts and images operated with a common set of motifs, images, as well as they used similar techniques. Therefore, the analysis of pamphlets provides better understanding of the subject of studied etchings and helps to clarify the meaning of certain details. Furthermore, taking into account that caricature was often secondary to the texts, author strived to find the literary sources of the studied caricatures and came to the conclusion that Charon’s famous engraving “The Height of Cannibalism” was strongly influenced by the François-René Chateaubriand’s “Report on the State of France” (1815). The matching texts, as well as the general consonance of the caricature “Arrival of Nicolas Buonaparte in Tuileries on January 20, 1815” with Rougemaitre’s popular anti-Napoleonic pamphlet “Life of Nicolas” (1815) suggests that the latter was among the caricaturist’s sources of inspiration at least.

Nada más llegar a España, lo primero que hizo José Napoleón I fue establecer una reglamentación nueva para la Casa Real. Con ello pretendía fortalecer las figuras de su entorno más cercano en un deseo de dotarlas de un especial papel en el entorno propagandístico y legitimador que pretendía crear y que le dotaría de los mejores elementos visuales con los que presentarse ante la población._______________________Upon arrival in Spain, the first thing that José Napoleón I did was to establish a new regulation for the Royal Household. With this he intended to strengthen the figures of his closest environment in a desire to give them a special role in the propaganda and legitimating environment that he intended to create and that would provide him with the best visual elements with which to present himself to the population.

À travers ce mémoire, nous avons tenté de répondre à la problématique suivante : comment Napoléon Bonaparte et Adolf Hitler ont-ils organisé leur image de dirigeant et de guide de la nation, et ce, dans quels buts? Nous avons formulé notre réponse selon notre opinion, c'est-à-dire que le guide national est un vecteur identitaire qui mélange le culte de la personnalité, les symboles du pouvoir et le nationalisme. Pour saisir tous les aspects que comprend cette réponse, il nous faut inévitablement faire appel à la propagande qui joue un rôle prédominant dans l'opinion publique française et allemande de ces époques. Ainsi, notre réponse s'articule en quatre parties. En premier lieu, nous constatons que c'est à travers la théorie des deux corps du roi que Napoléon et Hitler ont fusionné l'Ancien et le Moderne à leur personne. Ils ont ainsi tenté de se rallier leur peuple en invoquant le spirituel et en prétendant à une intervention divine pour justifier leur position. En second lieu, afin d'accentuer l'aspect d'intervention providentielle, Napoléon et Hitler sont représentés comme étant, en quelque sorte, des messies destinés à diriger leur nation vers un avenir plus radieux. Pour légitimer cette position, ils reprennent une série de référents à la chrétienté. En troisième lieu, nous verrons que les guides, afin de marquer leur position de pouvoir, exploitent le passé de la nation. Que ce soit dans les peintures ou dans les affiches de propagande, il est possible de constater la frappante similarité des symboles utilisés par Napoléon et Hitler. Dans les deux cas, le guide national semble être reproduit selon un schème de pensée semblable. En quatrième lieu, nous démontrons, par l'entremise des théories de Walter Benjamin et d'Antonio Gramsci, comment l'art et certains moyens de communication sont dénaturalisés sous Napoléon et Hitler afin de servir non pas de force artistique, mais de propagande. Nous exposons que le télégraphe de Chappe, la radio, le théâtre et le cinéma sont des outils de premier choix pour servir les propos politiques de Napoléon et d'Hitler. En définitive, notre mémoire constitue une contribution historiographique à un champ peu exploité et négligé. Le rapprochement entre Napoléon et Hitler nous permet de mieux cerner le pouvoir et ce qui l'entoure, de même que la puissance de la propagande et du nationalisme combinée au concept de guide national.

Jean-Baptiste Isabey (1767-1855) connaît une carrière exceptionnellement longue qui s’étend de la Révolution au Second Empire. Après avoir exposé ses premières œuvres au Salon de 1791, cet élève de Jacques-Louis David s’impose sur la scène artistique du Directoire comme le premier dessinateur et miniaturiste de son temps. En s'inscrivant dans un contexte favorable à la diffusion de portraits de moindre coût et de moindre format, sa réussite peu commune rend compte de l'évolution des critères de la reconnaissance artistique à la fin du XVIIIe. Elle témoigne également de la promotion du statut social de l'artiste autour de 1800. Lié aux proches du clan Bonaparte sous la Consulat, Isabey est un des portraitistes de la période les mieux introduits auprès des élites. Son habileté à exploiter des sujets qui répondent aux goûts de ses contemporains permets de mesurer l'importance des relations mondaines dans la naissance et la diffusion des réputations artistiques au tournant du XIXe siècle. Entre 1800 et 1805, Isabey est l'auteur de plusieurs grands dessins de propagande qui scandent les principales étapes de la consolidation du nouveau pouvoir. Familier de la noblesse impériale, l'artiste accumule honneurs et commandes officielles au lendemain du Sacre. Sa réputation est associée aux portraits miniatures de l’Empereur destinés à la caisse des présents diplomatiques et à quelques-unes des plus célèbres représentations officielles de Marie-Louise et du roi de Rome. Ses responsabilités sont extrêmement variées et sa production considérable : il est à la fois peintre des relations extérieures, dessinateur du cabinet et des cérémonies et décorateur en chef de l'Opéra. L'étude de ce parcours pluridisciplinaire offre un champ d'étude remarquable, qui nous fournit bien des clefs pour comprendre la carrière et le statut des artistes de cour sous l'Empire. Après Waterloo, Isabey est mis à l’écart du pouvoir en raison de ses engagements bonapartistes. L'artiste exécute alors plusieurs caricatures et portraits qui le montrent prompt à critiquer la monarchie restaurée. L'analyse des effets de la résistance au régime royaliste dans le monde des arts entre 1815 et 1820 aide à saisir le sens de son engagement dans l'opposition. La période qui s’ouvre au lendemain des Cent-Jours est également fondamentale pour comprendre le parcours artistique d'Isabey et pour apprécier la place que lui assignèrent ses contemporains dans l’art de la première partie du XIXe siècle. Son abondante production, qui se décline en miniatures sur vélin, dessins, lithographies, aquarelles et peintures à l’huile le montre soucieux de l'évolution du goût. Elle met aussi en lumière la difficulté qu'il éprouve à conserver sa réputation de portraitiste après 1820. Cette thèse fournit pour la première fois un catalogue de l’œuvre d'Isabey
Jean-Baptiste Isabey (1767-1855) had an exceptionally long career that spanned from the French Revolution until the Second French Empire. After his early works' exhibition at the Salon of 1791, this student of Jacques-Louis David rapidly became, on the art scene of the French Directory, the finest artist and miniaturist of his time. In a context that made the dissemination of low-cost and small-sized portraits easier, his unusual success reflects the change of artistic recognition criteria in the late eighteenth century. It also reflects the improvement of the social status of artists around 1800. Linked to people that were close to Bonaparte under the French Consulate, Isabey is one of the period's best introduced portraitists. His cleverness in using themes that meet his contemporaries' tastes clearly shows how important social relationships can be in the making and spreading of artistic reputations at the turn of the nineteenth century. Between 1800 and 1805, Isabey is the author of several large propaganda drawings that punctuate the main steps of the new power's consolidation. Familiar with the imperial nobility, the artist collects honours and official commissions in the wake of the Coronation. His reputation is associated with miniature portraits of the Emperor made for the fund of diplomatic presents and with some of the most famous official representations of Marie-Louise and of the King of Rome. His responsibilities are manifold and he produces a lot: he is the official painter for external relations, designer of the Cabinet, designer of Ceremonies and chief decorator of the Opera. The study of this multidisciplinary career gives many keys to a better understanding of the career and status of court artists under the Empire. After Waterloo, Isabey is sidelined because of his bonapartist commitments. At this time the artist performs several caricatures and portraits where he clearly criticizes the freshly restored monarchy. Analysing the effects of this resistance to the royalist regime in the world of arts between 1815 and 1820 helps in understanding his commitment to the opposition. The period opening in the aftermath of the Hundred Days is also fundamental to understanding Isabey's artistic career and to appreciate the place he was assigned by his contemporaries in the art of the first part of the nineteenth century. His prolific output, which comes in miniature on vellum, drawings, lithographs, watercolours and oil paintings shows his constant concern about changing tastes. It also highlights the difficulty he has to maintain his reputation as a portraitist after 1820.This thesis provides for the first time a catalogue of Isabey's works

Egyptian campaign of 1798 led by general Bonaparte had an important impact on the European culture in the end of 18th century and begining of the 19th century. Also the campaign itself was strongly reflected in period art and print. Main goal of my diploma is to compare the visual appereance and thought of the caricature created mainly by the english authors on this matter, with official French propaganda under Napoleon which is visible in art of Antoine-Jean Gros' painting: Napoleon visiting the sick in Jaffa. In both cases these are distinctive illustrations of political function of art, which, mainly in the era of Napoleon I., gained new authenticity for the future evolution of political propaganda and caricature.

This concluding chapter begins by addressing the image of Napoleon as Harlequin. In appropriating the iconography of pantomime, conscripting it in the service of wartime propaganda, Harlequin-Napoleon prints and broadsides are involved in a complex form of cultural negotiation. They map onto military conflict the vocabulary of a longstanding culture war whereby the highly charged and always renewed binaries of high–low, literature–entertainment, and elite–popular become a means of comprehending the military and political confrontation between Britain and Napoleonic France. Moreover, images of Harlequin Napoleon implicitly mobilize and affirm particular conceptions of “literature” and “the literary” even as they strenuously avoid visibly naming or referencing them. The chapter then considers pantomime, a form of popular theater at the core of long-standing and pervasive anxieties about the dissolution of British culture.