Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got. Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn’t you like to get away?
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Napoleon and the Bayeux Tapestry
In 1803-1804, this tapestry was borrowed from Bayeux in Normandy for a two-month exhibition at the Musée Napoléon (Louvre).
Vivant Denon’s letter to the sub-prefect of Bayeux the following year:
“I am sending back to you the Tapestry embroidered by Queen Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror. The First Consul has seen with interest this precious monument of our history, he has applauded the care that the habitants of the city of Bayeux have brought for seven and a half centuries to its conservation. He has charged me to testify to them all his satisfaction and to entrust them with the deposit. Invite them to bring new care to the conservation of this fragile monument, which retraces one of the most memorable actions of the French Nation.”
(20 February 1804)
Napoleon attended the opening of the exhibition on 5 December 1803, with Denon and Visconti.
A press release for the exhibition was published in the ‘Beaux-Arts’ column in Le Moniteur on 29 November and in the tabloid Journal de Paris on 28 November. Visconti wrote a guide for the artwork which was partially reprinted in Le Moniteur.
The tapestry was returned to Bayeux two months later, on 18 February 1804. Many in Paris wanted to keep it in the city, but Napoleon ordered that it be returned.
Previously, the historic tapestry had been confiscated during the French Revolution. It was covering military wagons and almost cut up when a local lawyer, Léonard Lambert-Leforestier, saved it by sending it to city administrators for safekeeping.
The tapestry depicts the William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy. The piece was made about a decade after his 1066 invasion of England and the purpose of the tapestry was to glorify the invasion.
It was displayed to the public in Bayeux in 1812 and has been publicly displayed ever since:
“From 1812 the Tapestry was kept in the Hotel de Ville (city hall) in Bayeux. It was generally hung and displayed to the public in September of every year. In addition, the custodian could show it to visitors, rolling it out gradually on a table by turning the crank handle of a winder: this way of exhibiting it was described on several occasions by British writers between 1814 and 1836. From 1842, it was put on permanent display for the first time in the Matilda gallery.”
Sources:
Susan Jaques, The Caesar of Paris: Napoleon Bonaparte, Rome, and the Artistic Obsession that Shaped an Empire
Carola Hicks, The Bayeux Tapestry: The Life Story of a Masterpiece
Bayeux Museum: From Odo’s Cathedral to the Louvre
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US Vogue April 15, 1950
Jean Patchett in a Cavalcade long-sleeved Grecian shepherd's coat. Good travel companion, refuge all year round. By Tsouchlos; suitable for Peck & Peck.
Jean Patchett dans un manteau, un manteau de berger grec à manches longues de la Cavalcade. Bon compagnon de voyage, refuge toute l'année. Par Tsouchlos; adapté pour Peck & Peck.
Norman Parkinson
vogue archive
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