#l’aiglion

[count-lero]

Grandpa’s gift

There is an incredibly fascinating artistic detail that haunts me after a person on the Internet made their observations and I’m really excited to share them with you!

So, we have this illustration from a book “Life of Napoleon Bonaparte” by William Milligan Sloane (1896). Here we can see Napoleon visiting his son in a timeframe close to spring of 1813, when it became obvious that his larger allies are good for nothing and probably going to leave him soon. Napoleon is shown deep in his thoughts holding a hand of his beloved son and looking at something far beyond our reach…

Or is he?

Speculations can be made that he actually has his attention on toy soldiers present in a foreground of the picture.

While a cannon is more than rightfully Napoleon’s own symbol in a way, these toy soldiers do not represent any kind of French troops. Yes, it’s possible to discern their tall hats but those are not bear hats of the Old guard, for sure.

They probably are the hats of Imperial (Austrian) grenadiers from the period of Revolutionary wars. You can even see parts of red lining and red cuffs on their snowy-white coats.

And even if it was somewhat of a tradition to gift toy soldiers representing military units of relatively old times, an air of symbolism also surrounds such a choice. You know, symbolism straight from those times when Imperial forces hadn’t yet suffered critical blows from the renewed French army and thought of themselves as fighters for truth and Habsburg’s justice.

So yeah. What a meaningful gift from a caring grandfather to his grandson. 🤭

(I also imagine how prince Schwarzenberg could have delivered this exact gift personally to Marie Louise, when he came to Paris as a diplomat once more and it literally gives me goose bumps. I love such small but significant plots with all my heart. ❤️)

#napoleonic aesthetic #napoleon i #napoleon ii #napoleon bonaparte #l’aiglion #franz ii of austria #napoleonic era #napoleonic wars #premier empire #austrian empire #19th century

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July 19, 2020- Day 8 out of 66 for new self love habit

July 19, 2020- Day 8 out of 66 for new self love habit

Hello July,

yes, I haven’t reported the last couple of days… something nice and unexpected happened, but I will tell you tomorrow if you keep being so cool! Pause or not, I am going to be flexible and continue to count the days towards a habit change from the 15th of July:-)

Where am I regarding self-love habits? I woke up early, had a walk, read and wrote, and read about L’Aiglion, meaning the…

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#Edmond Rostand #L&039;Aiglion #Sarah Bernhardt