#Corvisart

[empirearchives]

Descriptions of Napoleon’s personality by Adam Zamoyski

“He was kind by nature, quick to assist and reward. He found comfortable jobs and granted generous pensions to former colleagues, teachers, and servants, even to a guard who had shown sympathy during his incarceration after the fall of Robespierre. He was generous to the son of Marbeuf, promoted his former commander at TouIon Dugommier and looked after his family when he died, did the same for La Poype and du Teil, and even found the useless Carteaux a post with a generous pension. Whenever he encountered hardship or poverty, he disbursed lavishly. He could be sensitive, and there are countless verifiable acts of solicitude and kindness that testify to his genuinely wishing to make people happy.”

“He was most at his ease with children, soldiers, servants, and those close to him, in whom he took a personal interest, asking them about their health, their families, and their troubles. He would treat them with a joshing familiarity, teasing them, calling them scoundrels or nincompoops; whenever he saw his physician, Dr. Jean-Nicolas Corvisart, he would ask him how many people he had killed that day.”

“He possessed considerable charm and only needed to smile for people to melt. He could be a delightful companion when he adopted an attitude of bonhomie. He was a good raconteur, and people loved listening to him speak on some subject that interested him, or tell his ghost stories, for which he would sometimes blow out the candles. He could grow passionate when discussing literature or, more rarely, his feelings.”

[maggiec70]

How was Corvisart slimy? Only by the virtue of association with Louise Lannes?

Not at all. His "sliminess" was original to him long before LouLou was born. His association with her father, however, was long-standing since, apparently, men with scant ethics and morals--the latter not restricted to sexual--tend to hang out together. These two were of average or slightly less than average upbringing and were exceptionally greedy for money and definitely upwardly mobile positions of influence in the Imperial milieu.

[josefavomjaaga]

Napoleon getting authoritative over his bag of chips 😁.

Speaking of Naps and his favorite chips, here is a lil' strip about it 😏😉😂

Letter from Josephine: does he eat well?

Berthier, looking at Naps eating his 736th bag of chips for meal during this particular campaign:

[miffy-junot]

Laure's pregnancy longings and Junot's efforts to fulfil them

This is an article from an 1897 volume of the British Medical Journal, in which a man peruses the "strange phenomenon" of women's pregnancy longings - by looking at the writings of Laure Junot on the subject, which was relevant as Junot had recently been re-buried beneath a grand monument erected in his honour in Montbard.

The author of the article is a man with clearly outdated knowledge of women's health, but the story itself is entertaining and the writing style rather funny:

"The Duchess [d'Abrantes] declares that when she found herself pregnant for the first time she was very happy and exceedingly uncomfortable for several months, but had no longings, and had never heard of such things. Suddenly her mother one day exclaimed "Mon Dieu! I have quite forgotten to ask what your 'longing' is!" The lady declared that she had no time to think of taking up an envie or autojo, as she spent most of her time in being sick. Her lady relatives grew sincerely alarmed; they said that she was in danger, and that if her longing was concealed her offspring would be marked with its symbol. Her sister had longed for cherries at Christmas, and the child she bore was marked with a cherry, which, judging from the Duchess's account, would be called a naevus in our clinical columns. The Duchess racked her wits to find out what she longed for, and at last concluded that she wanted a pineapple.

That fruit was out of season, but Marshal [sic] Junot found that Madame Bonaparte (afterwards the Empress Josephine) had some hot-house specimens, and that historic lady immediately supplied what was wanted. A remarkable incident followed. Junot hurried home with the pineapple, but Corvisart, who had heard of this interesting case, warned him not to let his wife eat any that evening. This advice was followed. Next morning, when the Duchess was frantic with joy at her longing being gratified, her lord cut up the fruit with great courtesy in her presence, and sugared the slices. Whilst this was being done her frenzy for pineapple suddenly changed to an intense aversion, which never throughout her life underwent further change.

The Duchess declares that the revulsion of feeling occurred instantaneously. What was especially remarkable was the fact that she could ever afterwards, as before, take sweets flavoured with pineapple, though she could not tolerate the raw fruit. The child which she bore was not, it would appear, marked with anything like a pineapple."

(...Josephine Junot was indeed born completely healthy with no pineapple-related marks or ailments.)

source

[josefavomjaaga]

How to wean a king

Part of a long letter, written on June 7, 1812, by Doctor Corvisart, premier médecin at Napoleon’s court, to the infamous Duchesse de Montebello, Louise Lannes, about how much effort it cost him to see his authority respected by Madame de Montesquiou, head governess of Napoleon’s son.

Madame la Duchesse,

I will not let Isabey go without charging him with a word for you; and, though you have ordered him to see your children before he leaves, you will please not think it amiss if I tell you that they were all in perfect health when I had the pleasure of dining with them last Wednesday; so were all your family and your grandparents. Therefore, Madam, you may continue to follow your vagabond inclinations, go round the world, excel in the most excellent courts, and return at God's pleasure.

All the news, moreover, attests to the fact that Her Majesty the Empress is in excellent health; I believe this as much as I desire it: if one could consider, amongst all the symptoms which constitute it, the assurance of pregnancy, what wishes would be fulfilled. I think I can, without any impropriety, Madame la Duchesse, ask you to kindly offer Her Majesty the homage of my respect and my complete devotion.

Finally, Madam, you may announce to Her Majesty that the King of Rome is completely weaned: since and including last Wednesday (3 June), he has ceased to see his nurse, and consequently to suckle. I think he is all the better for it. I saw him yesterday. He is cheerful, drinking, eating and sleeping wonderfully and his teeth are growing.

The story of this weaning is rather piquant, and if you promise me, by oath, not to speak of it, even to Her Majesty, I will sketch it out for you.

The very morning of the day the Emperor left, he pushed me vigorously in the presence of the Prince of Neufchatel on the subject of weaning and ordered me to do everything I thought appropriate on this subject, under my responsibility. You know that the Moniteur of the next day announced that the king would be weaned at the end of May.

I went to Meudon on the following Wednesday; I informed Mme la Gouvernante of the unrestricted authorisation given to me by the Emperor, and, after discussing it with Messrs Bourdois, Auvity and Dubois (the first two not having a very clear opinion), I spoke of weaning the child. Mme la G... did not want to consent to this before writing to the Emperor. I explained to her in vain that His Majesty had given me the most formal and extensive authorisation; she did not want to go beyond that; I had to wait.

Here, it should be known that I learned indirectly that Mme la G... had made Messrs Bourdois and Auvity sign her opinion concerning the weaning of the King; they drew it up and signed it without informing me in any way. I have no doubt that Mme la G... must have strengthened her letter to the Emperor with the support of these signatures, undoubtedly in order to contrast the opinion of these gentlemen and thus delay the weaning. I made some trips to Meudon; I asked if the reply of His Majesty had arrived, and I was answered that it had not. I repeated a second time the absolute authorisation which I had received from the Emperor, that I was believable on my word; I had to wait.

I was not, as you can well imagine, Madame, without reluctance to see that no credence was given to what I was saying, and that they were trying, by gaining time, and by what I would almost dare to call deceptive tactics, to abort the execution of the weaning at the time I had proposed. What could be done? Wait for the Emperor's reply.

Finally, on Friday 29 May, on my way home in the evening, I received a note from Mme la G... (she had not signed it), in which she informed me that she had just received His Majesty's reply and that all the obstacles to weaning had been removed.

OBSTACLES! Weigh this word carefully, Madame, and, according to the facts I have just outlined, where did these obstacles come from?

I would observe, moreover, that Mme la G... does not give me the extract from the Emperor's letter concerning me in relation to weaning; I have had, in all this, as you see, only the strictest of essentials, still, still...

Finally, I went the following Wednesday to Meudon; I asked the opinion of these gentlemen, whose will the Emperor allowed me to do without; I asked them if, on their honour and in their soul and conscience, the king could be weaned without inconvenience and without delay? They said YES. We returned to the King's apartment; I decided on the weaning which they wanted to postpone for a few more days, I did not consent to it and they weaned. You know the rest. I will make no comment on this account, Madame la Duchesse; you are quite sure that it contains the exact truth, because you know my probity and my loyalty well. I will tell you only one thing, that the air of the court alters my physical and moral health, and that I would like to be away from it for ever, for half my fortune. Your trust, for you, for your children, for your family, my conscience and my honour, which are well known to you, is the only relief for so many tribulations. In any case, keep this history secret from me, for I have no draft of it and the facts will surely escape my memory [...]

What I love best is how Napoleon, clearly wishing to get the weaning done, instead of talking about it to the governess - who he probably knew would oppose him - sends old Corvisart into that battle 😁. (And Berthier is probably there for backup.)

The King of Rome was 14 months old, btw.

[walker-diaries]

[maggiec70]

I have been thoroughly castigated by a couple of folks in the Naps community regarding my opinions/posts about the Lovely Louise. Not that I've ever been bothered by any criticism when my opinions are bolstered by facts, but there you are. Some folks just see what they expect or want to see. We can all agree that Jean-Boy was never invited to parties, dinners, and balls because of his clever repartee or his excellent manners. He was invited because he dropped F-bombs between dinner courses, greatly enlivening the discourse, expressed his opinions of the other guests, NOT sotto voce, and other shenanigans that kept imperial gatherings from being entirely soporific. He was, therefore, very popular.

The Lovely Louise did not have endless supplies of small talk, or of the kind ladies of the era were used to and trained in developing. She was awkward and self-centered when she bothered to appear at court and kept to the sidelines, sulking until she could escape without attracting any notice. She definitely did not have "delicate manners." She scarcely had any public manners at all. Her poor education at the hands of her mother, an utterly inconsequential bourgeois woman with pretensions, was both noticed and criticized roundly by the other women in Marie-Louise's entourage, who disliked her intensely for her greedy habits, her lack of any real breeding, and the execrable job she did as M-L's dame d'honneur. There are quite a few contemporary memoirs that had a great deal to say about this woman, none of it flattering. Also consider the fact that the Lovely Louise had absolutely no female friends. Not. One. She spent her time with her parents in their "country house" east of Paris, in the company of Corvisart--another slimy specimen--and a shadowy equerry who was an alleged friend of the family. And her children, of course, whose interests she defended against all comers with a singular ferocity. She adored her children, although she disliked the way children were obtained--I suspect she preferred the cabbage patch method. So, what sort of relationship did these two disparate people have? I think the only reason it survived was the enforced separations that prevented an open breach. The longest period that Jean was home--from August 1807 through September 1808--he spent most of his time not in his country house that used to belong to the comte d'Artois but in Lectoure, hanging out with friends and family that his wife refused to visit or even acknowledge, and complained when he went without her. The short version: the Lovely Louise had a pleasing, pretty facade that hid pettiness, greed, arrogance, ignorance, a tendency to whine and moan, and no redeeming qualities worth noting.

Louise Antoinette Scholastique Guéheneuc, Duchess of Montebello (1782-1856) by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, 19th century

[moxxtrack]

Lost in the 80's by moxx

[patric-jonas]

Jonas - #30 - novembre confiné - contribution finale - 30 nov.2020

MERCI à toutes et à tous les artistes présents dans novembre confiné - création et impression linogravure originale - 15x21 -———————————————————————–  

MERCI à toutes et à tous - impression linogravure originale / tirage 1/5 sur papier linogravure 150 grs - police de caractères crée pour novembre confiné (enfin les 5 premières lettres…) - ces caractères typographiques me semblent assez adaptés à la pratique de la linogravure  / appellation toute personnelle de cette nouvelle police de caractères - Corvisart  -  (Jonas)

Temps de fabrication pour ce #30 -  environ 6 heures

———————————————————————–   

contacts et renseignements : patric.jonas@gmail.com

———————————————————————–

[joachimnapoleon]

[maggiec70]

Aimee Davout was not unique in disliking court appearances, nor in rejecting the proffered post as a lady in waiting. In the latter case, she was amazingly selfish and shortsighted, since, as was already duly noted, her refusal could have had dire repercussions for her husband's career. Good for her that Davout was so forgiving and placatory to her refusals. Good for him, more important, that his wife's pettiness didn't harm him. In the same vein, Louise Lannes, the pettiest and one of the least liked of the marshal's wives, refused point blank to go to court, for any reason. If Jean-Boy ever pressed her, she'd call in Dr. Corvisart, a long-time friend of her family, to say her health was too delicate. Sometimes Napoleon could discern the various personalities of the marshals' wives, and left the Lovely Louise completely alone. However, Naps offered Louise the top job attending Marie-Louise, for reasons I've never understood--it was akin to inviting a pit viper into your home. Louise accepted at once, asked for all sorts of perks, and from then on was a fixture at court. Some people wonder if she did this as a means to get back at Napoleon, but I've never thought that was true--she was too stupid to concoct such a scheme for revenge. I think it's far more likely that her innate greed was the motivating factor; she wanted lots of money, jewelry, prestige, and so forth, now that she was a widow, and she wanted additional advancement for her family. She got some of what she demanded, but not nearly as much as she wanted. And I believe that was the one reason she turned on Napoleon, and turned Marie-Louise against him in 1814. The latter was not hard to do, however.

Davout Tries to Convince His Wife to Accept a Position

I found this interesting event in Davout's biography which illustrates when Marshal Davout tried to convince his wife, Aimée Leclerc, to accept a position as a lady-in-waiting to Madame Mère (aka. Napoleon's mother).

This was in 1805 shortly after the Empire was established. Davout had just become a Marshal which gave Aimée a new title, la Maréchale, and a position in the new royal household. However, Aimée intended to reject the position and told her husband (who was away from home at the time) that she was going to do so.

Davout immediately tried to convince her to reconsider,

We have had kindness and favours heaped on us by the Emperor, thus to show our gratitude, it is necessary to do what he wishes, and to do so with grace so that he may never know how much it vexes us...Finally, I will terminate with a reflection: It would be selfish to refuse a duty because it involves duties when one takes from the same person on the other hand high honors and financial rewards; and neither you nor I are selfish.

Basically, Davout believes that because they have been given honours and rewards, they should accept any obligations that is required of them in return. Even if they don't want it, it is better to accept.

Aimée hesitated and Davout wrote again four days later,

We own so much to the Emperor and Empress, because it was they who made possible our marriage, that it seems to me that we should accept with all gratitude;...I know well that your health, your preferences and my own, are in opposition. but ma peitit Aimée, these are reasons dictated by selfishness; we own everything to our Majesties.

Interesting that Davout acknowledges that even he wouldn't particularly like being attached to the royal household. This was because Aimée would have needed to go to court a lot which they both hated. However, observe how Davout emphasises that they have to show gratitude by accepting this position (despite their reservations) because it would be selfish to not do so. I can really sense how honour-bound Davout felt they were and because he was so principled, regardless of personal feelings, they have to accept.

However, Aimée continued to dither and Davout finally writes on the 31st of March 1805,

In my letters of the 4th and 6th [of Germinal] I have tried to prove to you that not only should you have accepted, but that it was necessary to do so with gratitude. The kindness which I have received from the Emperor imposes the obligation of that which he desires.

However, he concedes and tells her it was, ultimately, her choice to make,

Do what you must, and I swear to you that I will never reproach you.

So with that promise, Aimée rejects the position, citing ill health. The actual reasons were more complicated than that, she really didn't want to be involved with the Bonaparte family anymore since the death of her brother, General Leclerc. Therefore, she was not inclined to accept any position that required her to be near any member of said family. Davout's biographer also muses that had Josephine instead of Napoleon's mother wanted Aimée as part of her household, she probably would have accepted. She was rather fond of Josephine so she would have been happy to be with her.

Gallaher, John. “A Marshal's Baton.” In The Iron Marshal: A Biography of Louis N. Davout, 64-94. The United States of America: Southern Illinois University Press, 1976.

[empirearchives]

Napoleon has entered the corset discourse. It is the assassin of the human race and murders women, apparently.

Book: The Lure of Perfection, by Judith Chazin-Bennahum.

There were a lot of changes regarding corsets during the Napoleonic era (along with panniers, wigs, fabrics, waistlines). It was kind of a meme for certain people to be scandalized by the fashion changes women were choosing to make, such as not wearing corsets. Many of these changes were seen as immodest and immoral.

After George Murgatroyd Woodward

In Russia in 1808, there was a piece published in Russkii vestnik listing the defects of women who were being influenced by Napoleon and foreign trends. It said these women had “blind passion for destructive fashions” as well as being guilty of “reading novels,” “ignorance of their native language,” and “indifference and inattention to their compatriots.”

Source: The Russian Representation of Napoleon: A Cultural Mythology, by Molly Williams Wesling.

[maggiec70]

what did Louise Lannes do then for you to have such a low opinion of her?

Why I Dislike/Disapprove of/Loathe/Condemn The Lovely Louise

!800 – 1809: Greed, Pettiness, and Bargain-Basement Bourgeois Mentality

She had the intellectual curiosity of a housefly and the education of the lowest of the bourgeoisie. Not surprising since her mother home-schooled her in the basics, and she had one year only with Madame Campan.

She was greedy and overly fond of collecting trinkets, ornaments, and similar items of no particular quality or style. She demanded, with some degree of shrill relentlessness, plenty of money to pay for all her crap.

She was often unrelenting in her demands for all sorts of things: that her brother be promoted to Lannes’ premier aide-de-camp; that her brother-in-law be promoted to head of V Corps’ engineers; that her father be given a higher-paying, more prestigious position in the imperial bureaucracy. She managed to give blatant nepotism a bad name.

She refused to be social. Ever. She hated the Imperial Court functions and refused to go, using the kinds as an excuse. She didn’t want Lannes to go either, and when he went because Napoleon expected him to, she engaged in monumental pouts. The myths that she was always so lovely, graceful, and sweet on these occasions were just that—myths.

She had two close—unhealthily close—friends, the slimy Dr. Corvisart, whom her equally slimy father introduced to Napoleon, and a second-rate perennially off-duty chevalier. No women friends of any rank. Just as well, because according to almost all the extant memoirs, no woman of any rank liked her, apparently able to see through the “I’m so sweet and demur” act.

She never went to Lectoure, Lannes’ hometown, and threw a real bitch fit when he wanted to go or went without her “approval” simply because he wanted to see his father and his siblings, and a lot of friends.

She insisted if they visited anyone, carting the kids with them, it was only and always to see her family. Full stop.

1809-1822: Treachery, Treason, Malfeasance, and Suspicious Death

She had to deal with claims from Lannes’ first wife, the much-maligned Polette Meric, on behalf of her son, Jean-Claude, until Naps ended that by a sharp letter to Cambaceres.

She actually went to the Tuileries to demand that Naps grant—posthumously, of course—the title “Prince of Seviers” so she could be a for-real princess just like Mesdames Massena, Berthier, and so forth and so on. She threw a significant shit-storm when Naps refused, and he reminded her that Lannes never applied for the letters patent because he didn’t care about the title, so she shouldn’t either.

No one—literally, no one other than Naps—thought she was a suitable choice for Marie-Louise. The historical record is replete with examples from the folks surrounding Marie-Louise, who was no winner herself.

She and her partner in crime, Dr. Corvisart, worked to insinuate themselves into M-L’s life so that when 1814 arrived, they could work to keep her away from Naps.

She made sure, as her letters show, that M-L and Naps II went back to Vienna, accompanied by her soon-to-be lover, Count Neipperg.

She offered her mansion that Lannes had bought and paid for to Wellesley for his headquarters. He refused, graciously, it is said.

Her parents immediately pledged their loyalty to Louis XVIII.

She lawyered up for the next legal battle with Polette, now that Naps was out of the picture.

She went into higher gear after Waterloo, now with nothing to stop her other than Jean-Claude’s attorney, who began to show that her marriage and Lannes’ divorce from Polette were riddled with illegal points.

Jean-Claude died in mysterious circumstances in November 1817. He had never been ill, and died three days after contracting an unknown illness. This has always been suspicious for obvious reasons.

She packed up the kids and went to Lectoure in 1818—she stayed in Auch, however, about 20 miles south—and, in a large PR event, donated Lannes’ house to the town. She never returned nor allowed any of the kids to return.

To be fair, which I always try to do regarding interpreting historical facts and figures, read Regis Bob-Crepy’s bio of Louise. His family married into hers back in the day before she married Lannes, and he is remarkably talented in glorifying his view of Louise. Besides the sheer comedic value for me, the best thing about his book is the letters he uses, which were/are maintained in the family’s hands and never before shared. Of course, we cannot know if others shed a different light on the subject. Given the family’s cavalier and almost criminal way they have treated anything to do with Lannes, his possessions, or his legacy, opting instead for celebrating their ties with the de Broglies and the Berthiers, I can almost guarantee that any shred of anything detrimental about Louise disappeared ages ago.

I have often sneered at the men who wrote biographies and articles about Lannes buying the Louise myth in its totality. But then, the poor dears simply can’t see things that are very clear to us.

Hope this answers your question.

[openpic]

Suzon.

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Corvisart's first meeting with Bonaparte.  -  We come now to the Directorv, the supreme executive Council from 1795 to 17/99. At a brilliant soiree given by Barras, with whom Corvisart had become acquainted through Lecoultre de Cauteleu, one of his first patients. Corvisart was presented to General Bonaparte, when the delightful Josephine, who had implicit faith in the knowledge of the great physician to the Charite, asked him point-blank, "To what disease do you think the General [Bonaparte] is most likely to be exposed?" "To disease of the heart," imperturbably replied the oracle. "Have you written a book on that?" asked Bonaparte. "No, but I think of publishing one soon." "Then lose no time, we will speak of this later." It is possible that suggestion from this august source led to the appearance a few years later of Corvisart's important book on the circulation.

[...]

On Wednesdays and Saturdays the First Physician attended when the Emperor rose and retired. Even though Napoleon was in his morning bath, Corvisart was at once admitted. If the august patient was in good humour he was wont to greet him thus: "Ah! there you are, great charlatan, how many patients are you going to kill to-day? " "Not many, Sire," was the usual reply. With Corvisart the Emperor omitted all formality, often pinching or rubbing his ears, a trick of his with those whom he liked. Napoleon was inclined to distrust medical art, claiming that it was too conjectural. By reason of his numerous ailments he was difficult to manage. He was always cold, and had a fire in his study even during the summer. He took a daily prolonged hot bath, followed at Corvisart's suggestion, by vigorous friction with Eau de Cologne. Napoleon was averse from drugs, believing that they should be reserved for exceptional cases, hence his treatment by Corvisart depended mainly on hygiene. Charlatans received scant mercy from Napoleon, but he had the highest opinion of Bichat, Larrey and Corvisart.

-- Life and Times of Jean Nicolas Corvisart (1755-1821) by J. F. Halls Dally, M.D.

[rod1832]

A short story of my oc Corvisart, a ww1 French doctor😳I finally finished it, hope you enjoy it!!

please share& like if you do, this means a lot to me😳!!