dinsdag 9 december 2014

Meet Napoleon

Last Sunday I visited a museum in the little village Gorinchem. We went for a special exhibition about chairs,  which I will show you later. But wandering through the other parts of the museum I was suddenly face to face with French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte! A waxwork which looked so real as if he just sat there for a moment.

The sign explains that Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) after he made a meteoric career in the French Revolution,  declared himself emperor of France and in 1810 he added the kingdom of Holland to France. In 1811 he visited Holland and amongst others Gorinchem. He inspects the ramparts and recognizes the strategic importance of Gorinchem which he calls " the key of Holland".
From 1813 France is getting further reduced by its enemies. In April 1814 Napoleon was eventually deposited. A year on he returns but is defeated in the battle of Waterloo. His last years he lives banned on a lonely island Sint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.

16 opmerkingen:

  1. Uncanny. It is a bit too real for me.

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  2. I have seen some of these was works and some are just so real looking - its like they are going to speak to you - I saw Queen Elizabeth and Philip and they were really well done too. Great Photo.

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  3. That is so weird! He looks very imposing, doesn't he. That expression on his face! Fierce!

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  4. He sure looks real. He didn't have a very friendly face, did he?

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  5. I've seen waxworks that were really weird looking but this is anything but that. They did an excellent job.

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  6. He looks quite dour... but then he always looked that way. He certainly wasn't anyone's impression of handsome.

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  7. Very strange museum mannequin. I've seen Napoleon's death mask in the British Museum. But perhaps there are quite a few Napoleon death masks out there.

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  8. Probably the most known french man in the world !

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  9. Knap hoe ze dat zo levensecht kunnen maken.

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  10. You get a bit of a start when you suddenly see these well done wax figures.

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  11. He certainly does look real and a little grumpy too!

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  12. He doesn't look exactly warm and fuzzy, does he? Napoleon was quite a guy!!

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  13. Dearest Marianne,
    Oh my he IS sitting there and looking quite stern!
    He died young too... what a life, after he got abdicated there was not much fun left.
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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  14. I still remeber the history from school. This Napoleon looks indeed very realistic He was quite small wasn't he

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