Imperial Material: Napoleon’s Cultural Legacy in Culture, Art, and Heritage, 1821-2021
Workshop, 3 September 2021 | Co-organised with Dr Nicole Cochrane
Napoleon Bonaparte died just over two hundred years ago on a small island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He had spent the last six years of his life in exile on St Helena, removed from political and military power, in the unusual situation of being able to try to shape and preserve his own posthumous legacy. He was, in a way, phenomenally successful. Napoleon is an instantly recognisable name to this day, and despite growing efforts in recent years to critically revise his reputation and highlight his role in issues such as the reinstatement of slavery, he has largely managed to escape the same level of historical censure as other infamous military dictators. This is perhaps partly because his name has become such an adaptable brand, standing for an entire era of people, places, and events, as well as a full two centuries’ worth of art, craft, and consumer commodities. While other events marking the bicentenary of Napoleon’s death weighed his contributions to legislative, political, and military reform, less work has been done to confront his vast material, visual, and cultural legacy.
This online workshop therefore invited researchers of all disciplines, and museum and heritage professionals, to reflect on the enduring material and visual legacy of Napoleon, what our interpretation and use of it means for the future as well as how it affects our understanding of the past.
Poster designed by Hardeep S Dhindsa
Napoléon I (1769–1821) on Horseback, miniature by Luigi Marta. Met Museum
Saint Napoleon. Coloured lithograph (?), 1843. Wellcome Collection