PAINTING HIMSELF INTO HISTORY: Napoleon Bonaparte and the Fine Art of Propaganda with Sylvia Sagona

There is so much more to Napoleon Bonaparte than the brilliant military general and nemesis of the Duke of Wellington. Before photography and the internet he knew that image was crucial to his grip on power and so took the best artists of the time with him on military campaigns and created the Musée Napoleon (Louvre] to exhibit the paintings. The city of Paris itself became his canvas with triumphal arches, Trajan-like columns, and avenues named after his victories. The ornate plates of Sèvres dinner sets celebrated his triumphs as did the luxury materials and Empire styles modelled by Josephine. This lecture will look beneath the counter-propaganda so skillfully established by the English.

Sylvia Sagona completed her post graduate studies of a Maitrise ès Lettres at the University of Aix en Provence where she lived and lectured at the university of Aix-Marseilles before taking up a lectureship in the Department of French and Italian studies at the University of Melbourne. She has taught in Paris on 19th century art and literature in partnership with the French Centre d' Etudes pédagogiques de Sèvres, and in Rome with the Università Roma 2 on how the Popes used the city layout for Christian propaganda.

Sylvia retired to create her own cultural travel company, Travels Through Time, and led study tours through Europe until 2023. During this time, she worked with the French-German television channel Arte and SBS to create a documentary on the invention of the department store. This year she will be in Rome filming a YouTube series on notorious Roman women from Vestal Virgins to Fascist spies.

Your ticket includes tea or Market Lane coffee served before the lecture, and time to browse our exclusive range of books, gifts, and homewares at TJC Emporium.

This lecture is presented on-site at The Johnston Collection. Please see your ticket for details. NOTE: Tickets for this event do not include access to our exhibition-house, Fairhall. Guided tours of the current exhibition can be booked separately.

This event is supported by The Colin Holden Charitable Trust.

Image: Jacques-Louis David, The Coronation of Napoleon. 1805-7. Musée du Louvre, Paris.