#instructor napoleon

[justabigoldnerd]

Thank you so much @kcscribbler for the tag!!

Here's a snippet from "Flufftober Day 10: Bet, Game, Contest"

(I'll admit, I'm really stretching the limits of interpretation for this prompt lmaoooo)

It's a bitter, freezing day in New York; the wind howling and biting like a rabid dog. Solo's fingers are numb where they rest on the steering wheel of his car, working up the courage to let down his daughter again. The radio is turned to the only station that still plays old Christmas jingles rather than whatever pop star has decided to butcher “Silver Bells”, and Claire hums innocently along in the back seat, her little legs clad in petal pink tights swinging. The seven year old has her father's dark ringlets, although looser and falling in perfect spirals on most days. Today, she has them pulled back into a neat bun, courtesy of lessons from Gaby. Her eyes are a clear, diamond blue like her mother's were, and the spattering of freckles across her face come from her as well. The bright, crooked smile Claire gives him is all Solo's genes, however, and it makes his chest constrict. “Honey,” he eases, and she meets his eyes in the rearview mirror. His heart forms several more hairline cracks. “I have to go to work tonight.” All the merriment drains from her face and her eyes go wide, “But you promised!” “I know, De Lune. I'm sorry. I'll be there next time.” Her bottom lip begins to quiver. Solo weighs the consequences of murdering Sanders when he gets to the office.

This prompt response is mostly based on This Post, but with a few changes ♡

No pressure tagging @huggiebird @happybean17 @falling-into-peril @heytheredeann @pippinoftheshire

@bighandsforabigheart @yallwildinrn @cha-melodius @the-golden-comet @thattripleabattery

@too-young-to-fall-in-love @times-up-alone-tonight @vnyu73 @nicijones @prettyboynapoleonsolo

And an Open Tag for anyone who wants to join!!! 💕💕💕

[nade2308]

Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, USN, Naval Aviator, "Top Gun", 1986

Lieutenant Junior Grade Daniel Kaffee, USN, JAG Corps, "A Few Good Men", 1992

Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, Geman Army, "Valkyrie", 2008

Roy Miller/Matthew Knight, CIA operative, "Knight and Day", 2010

Ethan Hunt, IMF agent in disguise as General Anatoly Fedorov, Russian Army, "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol", 2011

Jack Reacher, ex-Major and investigator for the 110th Military Police Special Investigation Unit, US Army, "Jack Reacher", 2012

William Cage, public affairs officer and Major, US Army, "Edge of Tomorrow", 2014

Jack Reacher, ex-Major and investigator for the 110th Military Police Special Investigation Unit, US Army, "Jack Reacher: Never go back", 2016

Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, USN, Naval Aviator, test pilot and flight instructor for the Navy, "Top Gun: Maverick", 2022

Barry Seal, airline commercial pilot for TWA, "American Made", 2017

"A man becomes the creature of his uniform."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

@thethistlegirl @malewifebillcage

[manorpunk]

To Seize and Hold - Act II

Distracting myself from election scrolling.

+++++

Jacob Martin Rider is modeled after a very particular type of guy, a type of guy who is intimately familiar to grand strategy gamers, central European history buffs, and anyone else who knows what a ‘Hussar’ is. That type of guy is the cavalry dandy.

The cavalry dandy is a grizzled, battle-tested, hard-drinking killer, a 17th century Rambo who charges into the nearest fight before he even knows who’s at war. The cavalry dandy is also a vainglorious fop obsessed with preening and fancy clothes. He is a perfect example of how changing and nebulous something like ‘masculinity’ is: the military is supposed to be the domain of masculine manly men, hard-eyed killers fighting other hard-eyed killers, but it is also a place of elaborate ritual, fancy uniforms with braids and sashes, dance-like ceremonies of precision movements, even those big dumb Air Force swords. Martial culture is the epitome of homiesexual. Or, to put it in Jacob’s words:

“If you want success on the battlefield, you need a fag. Alexander the Great? Huge fag. Frederick the Great? Huge fag. Napoleon? He’s French, so it’s complicated.”

But seriously, who the hell is this Jacob Martin Rider guy? Here’s what has been pieced together from a combination of primary sources, interviews, and good old-fashioned rumor, as will be revealed throughout the story:

Back in the day, JMR was a self-defense instructor who worked with queer groups, training people in martial arts and shooting. By 205X, when the remnants of America were bogged down in multiple wars with massive fronts, Jacob gathered his former students and lovers together into a small army and offered his services to the New US Army. He was hastily given the rank of Major by general Tony Poolsupplies and stationed in the northern Michigan front of the Quebec War.

Tony had little faith or trust in Jacob, however, calling him a “dollar-store Napoleon,” and he plunked Jacob down at a quiet outpost along Michigan’s coastline and refused to give him any orders. Jacob, meanwhile, privately referred to Tony as a “McClellan-ass bitch” and accused him of deliberately prolonging the war to get kickbacks from arms manufacturers.

Despite being roadblocked by his superiors, Jacob worked tirelessly on scouting, surveying, and reconnaissance, and noticed what appeared to be a contingent of the Imperial Quebecois Army preparing to reorganize by transporting reinforcements across Lake Huron in unarmed and unarmored ships. He recognized the opportunity for a rapid attack that could isolate and scatter the opposing army, potentially winning the war in one fell swoop. When Poolsupplies left him on read, Jacob decided to go ahead with the attack anyway. The Battle of Lake Huron was a resounding success for the Great Lakes Republic, and his use of small-arms drones for screening has arguably been influential in the development of mid-21st century drone tactics.

Despite his success, Jacob was immediately stripped of his rank and put on trial for disobeying orders, or lack thereof, and launching an independent offensive. And also for a lot of procurement fraud, that’s how he got rich but everyone forgets about that part.

Fast-forward, and enter Sunny Roosevelt. She thinks that JMR would make a perfect candidate for her defense advisor - talented and experienced enough to be useful, and crazy enough that she could always find a reason to drop him like last season’s merch. There’s the perfect opportunity to test him, too. Northern Michigan looks like it’ll be crawling with right-wing forest militias - again, sigh - so he can start off by getting a lay of the land and drawing up some contingency plans. What Sunny does not know is that there’s nothing Jacob loves more than strolling into a small town and pissing everyone off with his public flamboyance.

It does not take long for Jacob and Liam to both capture each other’s interest. The attempts by Liam’s father to keep the two of them apart other only gives it the sweet, sweet allure of ~*~forbidden love~*~. After Jacob saves Liam from being cornered by Byron Weber (one of Remington’s large adult sons), Liam enthusiastically agrees to be whisked away from his hometown to live at Jacob’s mansion.

<gratuitous sex scene>

And what a life it is! Peace and luxury, no need to work, and he can finally get in touch with the side of him that he’d had to keep hidden for all his life. Things slow down a bit as we take some time to develop the relationship, reveal Jacob’s backstory, adjust to the new routine, and have lots of gratuitous sex scenes. The fun and games before we raise the stakes and have the big midpoint moment, to put it in plotting terms.

<gratuitous sex scene>

Liam gets to know the new cast of characters, including a trio of maids who seem to share a special, as-yet-undisclosed relationship with Jacob:

Anton Smolenski, from Moldova. Short and somehow has naturally pink hair. He is the stern and serious one of the trio, perpetually scowling with his hands on his hips or his arms crossed.

Brandi Hyde, from Tidewater. Tall, gaunt, and stooping with long blonde hair, facial scars, and a wide, unsettling grin. The creepy one of the trio, fond of eye shadow, knives, and giggling slowly.

Ismai’l “Izzy” al-Iskander, from Balochistan. The suspiciously sweet one, with sleepy eyes, perpetually tousled hair, and a fidgety smile.

Still, it’s not long before a sense of unease starts to nag at Liam, although everyone else assures him that it must be him shaking off the results of his upbringing. For instance, he gets some odd looks for practicing Founderism - the fun new Christian heresy where the Founding Fathers are worshipped as saint-demigods. It’s not just Liam’s upbringing, though, it’s also his knowledge that he won’t be able to stay here forever - and even if he could, he wouldn’t want to. He wants to keep a sense of independence, the knowledge that he’d be okay if he ever had to leave, but he quickly learns that it won’t be easy. First, he’ll need to get his future-GED to qualify for citizenship. Classes are all online, and he tries to find a study group or a way to meet with other students, but other people tell him shit like “oh yeah if you have a Buck.it account you can sign in through Toastr. Do you have Bip? You need Bip.”

<gratuitous sex scene>

Liam continues to play Aivrcade, but one day when he signs in, he’s suddenly locked into a private server that he’s never heard of before. When it loads, he’s in a room with Sunny Roosevelt. She is distinctly not cute and bubbly. In fact, she’s dressed like a mob boss, with a red suit and large shades. She tells Liam that Jacob’s been talking about him - not a lot, but she picks up on these sorts of things. Jacob seems to like him. A lot. And that’s a very useful bit of information. Especially since Sunny needs someone to keep an eye on Jacob. Hint hint.

Liam objects - after all, he hasn’t exactly been trained in espionage. How could he pull this off?

Don’t worry, Sunny says, you grew up queer in a small town, so you obviously have some practice with hiding things. Besides, there’s a lot of money in it for you if you say yes. You’re trying to be independent, right? Don’t look so surprised, of course I knew that, I’m Sunny. With the money I can give you, you’ll be set for life without a sugar daddy.

Liam asks if he has to go along with this or if he can say no.

That’s a very good question, Sunny says. Can you say no to me? I suppose there’s only one way to find out. If you really want to know the answer that badly. :)

Liam says yes, and Sunny gives him the password for the private server he can use to contact her to give her all the juicy details.

As a result, Liam starts to look at Jacob differently, the things he says and does and what they mean. He listens in on Jacob’s conversations, and 

Turns out the maid trio have been with Jacob since the Battle of Port Huron - they look much younger than they are thanks to future-drugs. Anton thinks Jacob has been going soft and has been privately goading him to get back to his roots. What happened to the old Jacob, the one who trained people, taught them how to protect themselves? Goddammit, it’s time to bring back the Battletwinks. Anton is like a foil to Liam’s desire for self-reliance and autonomy, taking it in a more aggressive direction - “autonomy means forcibly carving out a niche for yourself and remaining vigilant in a cruel world.”

I notice now that this is a bit messy - I mean obviously, it's an outline, and it's the middle parts, it's the different threads that will have to be bound together very carefully. Setting up the dominoes to have a satisfying payoff.

<gratuitous sex scene>

[phatburd]

Title: The Marshal’s Court

Genre: Romantic Dramedy (In the style of Bridgerton)

Setting: The First French Empire, Napoleon’s Marshals as the central characters

Season 1, Episode 4: “Manners and Macarons”

Episode Synopsis:

The fourth episode of The Marshal’s Court turns the chaos dial up to eleven. Napoleon, fed up with his Marshals’ blunders at diplomatic functions and balls, decides to hire an etiquette instructor. The results are so disastrous they aren’t even shown on screen, but it’s implied that after two days of trying to civilize the group, the instructor quits and takes up drinking. Desperate, Napoleon asks Josephine to give them lessons herself. The A-plot focuses on Josephine attempting to teach basic etiquette and dancing to a group of very resistant (and occasionally hopeless) Marshals, including Lannes, Ney, Murat, Davout, Berthier, Augereau, and Bessières. Eugène is there too—no one’s really sure why, and even he looks confused.

Meanwhile, in the B-plot, Soult indulges his secret passion for baking, and we learn more about his hidden dream of opening a bakery.

The episode is a hilarious mix of historical fact, drama, and absurd comedy, with Bessimu shippers getting more hints, Murat struggling with his two left feet, and Augereau channeling his past as a dance instructor.

Opening Scene: Josephine’s Intervention

The episode opens with Napoleon pacing in his study, fuming as reports of his Marshals’ social blunders reach him. He bangs his fist on the desk and calls for an etiquette instructor, only for a footman to announce that the poor man has quit and left Paris altogether after two days with the Marshals.

Napoleon, ever the pragmatist, grumbles to himself and declares, “If I want something done right, I’ll have to bring in the only one who can control them—Josephine.” A quick cut shows Josephine arriving at the Tuileries Palace looking elegant and composed, ready to take on the impossible task of teaching the Marshals how to behave in polite society.

Fan Reactions:

Fans immediately buzz over the instructor quitting. The phrase “Two days with Lannes and Ney will break anyone” becomes a popular meme. Social media theorizes that Josephine’s entrance is about to elevate the dynamic even further, with some fans already anticipating a showdown between Josephine and Murat (who is clearly dreading the dance lessons).

The Dance Lessons: Murat’s Nightmare

Murat, as we know from historical accounts, never learned how to dance, and the writers make full use of this fact. The scene cuts to the grand ballroom, where Josephine begins her lesson by teaching the Marshals basic courtly manners, such as how to bow without knocking over chairs (a clear reference to a previous unseen disaster involving Lannes).

Josephine then turns to dancing. The camera zooms in on Murat, who visibly pales at the thought. “I’ve never had the time for this nonsense,” he mutters, but Josephine gives him a sly look. “You’ll need to learn how to waltz if you want to keep impressing European royalty.”

Murat reluctantly steps onto the dance floor, and the camera pans to Bessières, who watches with a mix of amusement and concern. As Murat fumbles his way through the steps, tripping over his feet more than once, Bessières steps in to help, offering him quiet, reassuring instructions. The tension between them is palpable, and Josephine watches this interaction with a knowing smile, but says nothing.

Fan Reactions:

#Bessimu shippers are fed in this scene. The quiet assistance from Bessières as Murat struggles creates waves across social media, with fans swooning over the subtle affection between the two. One fan creates a viral meme with the caption, “Bessières: Secret dance teacher, secret lover?” Another popular meme shows Murat tripping over his own feet with Bessières catching him, captioned “It’s called grace, look it up, Murat.” The fandom goes wild, convinced that Josephine is in on the secret.

Augereau: Dance Master and Former Pirate

Augereau, who historically worked as both a dance instructor and a fencing master, jumps into the lesson with gusto. He takes the floor confidently and starts demonstrating some more advanced moves, pirouetting and swirling dramatically. The other Marshals look bewildered, but Josephine gives him a bemused nod of approval.

At one point, Lannes and Ney share a glance and mutter to each other, “Wasn’t he a pirate once? Or was that just another of his tall tales?” The camera cuts to Augereau, who overhears them and gives a cheeky grin, saying, “I’ve worn many hats, but dancing is where the true art lies.”

Fan Reactions:

Fans adore Augereau as the unexpectedly graceful Marshal. A viral meme shows Augereau mid-pirouette, captioned “When you’ve defeated armies AND know how to nail a perfect twirl.” Fans also joke about his mysterious past, with some theories emerging about whether Augereau was, in fact, a pirate. The hashtag #PirateAugereau trends briefly as fans debate his murky background.

Berthier: Barely Conscious, But Competent

Berthier, as expected, looks absolutely exhausted throughout the lesson. Historically, Berthier was known to have worked for days with almost no sleep, and this is hilariously exaggerated in the episode. At one point, Josephine asks him to demonstrate a simple bow, but he stumbles forward, barely awake.

Despite his exhaustion, Berthier does have a clue about etiquette, having been raised at Versailles before the Revolution. When pressed, he manages to execute a perfect bow and a few elegant dance steps, but it’s clear he’s running on fumes.

Fan Reactions:

The fandom immediately takes to Berthier’s near-comatose state. Memes of him barely standing but still pulling off a dance move circulate, with captions like “When you haven’t slept in 72 hours but still have to look fabulous.” Fans appreciate the historical nod to his notorious work ethic and speculate that Berthier might actually need to sleep for once.

B-Plot: Soult the Baker

While the Marshals are stumbling through dance lessons, Soult is in the kitchen, indulging his passion for baking. Historically, Soult almost quit the military to become a baker before Napoleon’s Italian campaigns, and the writers take full advantage of this.

In a series of comedic scenes, Soult is seen meticulously preparing dough for macarons, explaining the delicate balance required for perfect pastry as if he’s planning a military maneuver. He refers to the kitchen as “his true battlefield,” and even Lefebvre drops in, raising an eyebrow and asking, “Why didn’t you become a chef instead of a Marshal?”

Soult replies, “Precision is key in both. You just don’t lose as many men in the kitchen.”

In the final moments of the B-plot, Napoleon himself walks into the kitchen, sampling one of Soult’s perfectly baked macarons. With a raised brow, he says, “I should send you to Austria with these. They’re practically a weapon.”

Fan Reactions:

Fans love the Soult subplot, and #SoultBakes trends for a second week in a row. Memes circulate with Soult in his uniform, meticulously icing macarons with captions like, “Conqueror of pastries, master of the battlefield.” Fans start clamoring for Soult to have his own cooking spin-off, half-jokingly demanding that the showrunners create a baking competition featuring all the Marshals.

Eugène: The Mystery

Eugène’s role in the etiquette lesson is puzzling to everyone, including the Marshals. He’s present, attempting to be helpful, but most of the time he stands off to the side, clearly out of his depth. Lannes and Ney keep exchanging looks, silently questioning why Eugène is even there.

At one point, Josephine catches him fumbling through a quadrille and sighs, “You’ll need to work on that, Eugène.”

Fan Reactions:

Fans are mystified by Eugène’s presence in this episode, echoing the characters’ confusion. Memes flood social media with captions like, “Why is Eugène here?” and “Eugène: The forgotten child.” Some fans jokingly speculate that Napoleon keeps Eugène around as a way to test his patience, while others are convinced he’ll have a bigger role later.

Closing Scene:

The episode ends with the Marshals lined up, bowing to Josephine one by one, each with varying degrees of success. Murat still stumbles slightly, but Bessières steps in to offer him a quiet word of encouragement. The scene cuts to Josephine watching them all with an amused smile, while Napoleon, lurking in the background, looks like he’s barely restraining his laughter.

Fan Reactions:

The Bessimu moment at the end is fuel for the shippers, with #Bessimu once again trending. One fan tweets, “Bessières: Here to rescue Murat from himself, one waltz at a time.” Fans are loving Josephine’s role as the Marshals’ etiquette tutor, with memes captioning her as “the real leader of the Empire.”

Teasers for Episode 5:

• Davout and Bernadotte’s rivalry reaches a new height, with tensions brewing over who will take charge of an upcoming campaign.

• Junot makes a surprise reappearance after being notably absent in Episode 4, sparking concern among the other Marshals about his mental state.

• The Bessimu ship gets another tease as Murat and Bessières find themselves in a compromising position during a royal banquet.

• Soult prepares a grand feast for Napoleon’s next big event, but will the stress of both military planning and perfecting his pastries be too much for him?

Fans are left eagerly awaiting the next episode, with social media flooded with theories about Davout and Bernadotte, Junot’s arc, and, of course, more Bessimu content.

[opera-ghosts]

Today I will remember the extraordinary soprano Adelina Patti (1843-1919). Here we see this antique Postcard from 1898.

Spanish-born soprano who was one of the greatest of her century.

The Spanish-born soprano Adelina Patti was the most renowned singer in Europe and the United States for over 30 years. She was born in 1843, the youngest of three children, into a family of opera singers and musicians. Her parents were opera performers well known in Europe by the time of Patti's birth in Madrid, where they were on tour. Her Italian father was Salvatore Patti; her Spanish mother was Caterina Chiesa Barili-Patti , known before her marriage as Signora Barili. Caterina also had four children from an earlier marriage, and all seven of her children would enjoy successful careers as singers.

When Adelina Patti was four the family moved to New York, where her father became an opera house manager. Her half-brother Ettore Barili gave Patti voice lessons starting at age five; by the age of seven Adelina was recognized as a child prodigy and the next year she gave her debut concert at New York City's Tripler Hall. Audiences and critics at subsequent concerts were stunned by the maturity, range, and purity of her voice. Her success in New York led to a three-year tour of American cities, unprecedented for such a young child, from 1851 to 1854. A second concert tour followed in 1857. Patti's sister Amelia Patti was married to the renowned pianist Maurice Strakosch; he took care of Adelina while on tour and served as her manager, instructor, and accompanist. She received only a minimal education, although her family background and musical training made her fluent in Spanish, French, Italian, and English. Her parents and Strakosch continued training Patti in the demands of operatic singing until they felt she was prepared to sing opera professionally. They arranged for her critically praised debut in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at the New York Academy of Music in 1859; she was 16, and would perform in opera continually for the next half-century, enjoying a career that was decades longer than that of most opera singers. Soon after her debut Patti faced serious family crises, as her father's struggling opera house failed and her mother left the family in 1860 to return to Rome. Patti then began to provide much of the family's income through her performances.

She toured the eastern United States and the West Indies from 1859 to 1861. In 1861, she went abroad, under the care of her father and Strakosch, to perform in La sonnambula at the Covent Garden opera house in London. She was enthusiastically received in London, where she was to perform every autumn for 25 years.

Patti remained on tour in Europe virtually continuously for 20 years, not returning to New York until 1881. She played to crowded houses in Berlin, Brussels, Amsterdam, Vienna, Paris, and across Italy. The operatic roles she chose ranged from light comedy, which she preferred, to tragedy, but whatever role she appeared in, critics were universal in their praise of her acting ability and the emotive power of her voice.

While in Paris in 1866, through her friendship with Empress Eugénie , Patti met the aristocrat Louis de Cahuzac, marquis de Caux, who served as a personal servant to the French emperor Napoleon III. They wished to marry but the marquis was not allowed to retain his privileged position at the French court if he married a working woman. Since Patti would not consider giving up her career, de Caux eventually resigned his post. This freed the couple to marry in 1868, when the new marchioness was 25 years old and her husband 42; however, the marriage lasted less than a decade, and they obtained a legal separation in 1877. As Patti was by then a celebrity throughout Europe and the United States, her marital problems brought scandal to the opera world and were the subject of often sensationalistic newspaper articles in many of the countries she had performed in. In the divorce suit, de Caux charged Patti with an adulterous affair with her co-star, Italian tenor Ernesto Nicolini. She admitted to the affair, but maintained in her defense that de Caux was jealous, controlling, and violent, and that he allowed her no access to her substantial income. The divorce would be finalized in 1885, when de Caux was awarded a settlement of $300,000 from Patti. Freed at last from her unhappy marriage, Patti married Nicolini a few months later.

Despite her personal problems during the separation and divorce, Patti continued to travel widely. She did a concert tour on her return to New York in 1881, followed by two operatic tours of the United States. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, she was the most highly paid and most visible singer in Europe and the United States, receiving press coverage for her appearances as well as for her shocking personal life, legendary jewel collection, enormous wealth, and for her demanding, often capricious personality. She maintained homes across Europe, where she was friends with and frequently host to Europe's royalty and aristocracy. Her fame even led to mentions in contemporary literature and drama, such as Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Patti gave a farewell performance at the New York Metropolitan Opera House in 1887. She and Nicolini then left for another extended tour abroad, performing in Spain and Argentina. In 1895, at age 52, Patti gave six farewell appearances at Covent Garden. She and Nicolini then went into semi-retirement on an estate in Wales called Craig-y-Nos Castle which Patti had purchased some years before, and where she lived with Nicolini prior to their marriage. Patti adopted Wales as the native land she had never truly had, and was respected by the Welsh for her generosity to charitable causes and to her poor neighbors.

Ernesto Nicolini died in 1898. Patti, age 56, remarried a year later. Her third husband, a Swedish aristocrat named Baron Rolf Cederström, was a former military officer who, at the time Patti met him in 1897, was director of the Health Gymnastic Institute in London. At the time of their marriage, Cederström was only 28; their age difference and his occupation made the renowned opera star once again the subject of a flood of news articles and gossip columns.

The urgings of Patti's American fans called her back to the stage in 1903, when she began her last operatic tour at New York's Carnegie Hall. Although Patti was by then considerably older than most opera singers were at retirement, audiences were still moved by her powerful performances. In 1906, at age 63, she made her formal farewell appearance at Albert Hall in London. She also made numerous recordings which have preserved her work and demonstrate the remarkable purity and range which captivated her admirers and which had once led the composer Giuseppe Verdi to call Patti the greatest voice he had ever heard.

Adelina Patti was called out of retirement to perform occasionally at charity events in Wales and England through 1914, when she left the stage for good at age 71. She spent the remaining five years of her life at Craig-y-Nos Castle, where she died in 1919, at age 76. At her wish, her husband buried her in the celebrity cemetery Père Lachaise in Paris. He eventually remarried, selling Craig-y-Nos Castle to the Welsh National Memorial Association which converted it into the Adelina Patti Hospital. The hospital remained in operation until 1986, when the castle and its grounds were turned into a national park and cultural center.

[empirearchives]

Giuseppe Donizetti — served Napoleon on Elba and accompanied him during the Hundred Days

Portrait of Giuseppe Donizetti later in life

Giuseppe Donizetti was born into poverty in 1788, in the Northern Italian city of Bergamo. The eldest of his siblings, he worked from a young age, training as a tailor’s apprentice. His true talent was in music, which was spotted early on in his life.

Giuseppe was conscripted in 1808 at the age of 20. He served the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in the Seventh Italian Regiment. He fought against Austria in the War of the 5th Coalition in 1809. He spent the years of 1811, 1812 and 1813 in Spain.

In 1811, he was became ill en route to Spain and was hospitalized at Castelnaudary in France. 43 years later in 1854, he wrote about it to the court of the Ottoman Empire:

“Constantinople, November 22, 1854. Mémoire to His Highness Achmed-Fethy Pasha. Finding myself in a comfortable position thanks to the beneficences of Our August and Glorious Sovereign, I cede to the Hospital of Castelnaudary (Aude), in which I was ill in 1811, the portion coming to me of the legacy left by the Emperor Napoleon I to the Battalion of the Island of Elba. The papers establishing my right to participate in the credit opened up by the Decree of August 5, 1854, issued at Biarritz by His Imperial Majesty the Emperor Napoleon III, I have been obliged to send to France at the time when I was honored with a brevet as Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Your Highness's Very humble Servant, Joseph Donizetti.”

Location and photograph of Castelnaudary

After the dissolution of the Kingdom of Italy and the First French Empire, he enlisted in the French military and was stationed on the island of Elba as a military flutist. It was on Elba, in the town of Portoferraio, where he was married in 1815.

That same year, he accompanied Napoleon during the Hundred Days, traveling with him on the same ship from Elba to Antibes, France. He likely fought at the battle of Waterloo.

Landing of Napoleon I in Antibes in 1815

After Napoleon:

The Austrians took control of Northern Italy after the fall of Napoleon. According to the historian Emre Aracı, Giuseppe was “a greal admirer of Napoleon and the French […] Giuseppe strongly opposed his country’s domination by the Austrians. Evidence shows that he secretly took part in the Carbonari resistance and even appeared at court trials.”

Giuseppe Donizetti became a composer, and had a full career as Instructor General of the Imperial Ottoman Music. He even composed the first National Anthem of the Ottoman Empire, the Mecidiye Marşı. His main legacy is introducing Western marching music to the military of the Ottoman Empire.

He was employed by the Ottoman government on 17 September 1828 for an annual salary of 8,000 francs. This was considered a very high salary by his family. Giuseppe’s trouble with the Austrian authorities after the fall of Napoleon may have been a motivator for him to leave Italy. He moved to Constantinople at the age of 39 and spent the rest of his life there.

Giuseppe’s patron was Sultan Mahmud II, who ruled from 1808 to 1839, and Sultan Abdulmejid I, who ruled from 1839 to 1861.

According to the historian Emre Aracı:

“The Donizettis were so well-liked in the Ottoman capital that when fire broke out near their house Ahmet Fethi Pasha, the sultan's brother-in-law, ordered all the houses surrounding the maestro's home to be razed to the ground in order to prevent the flames reaching the building.”

Sultan Mahmud II

His brother, Gaetano, called him his fratello turco— Turkish brother, writing to his friend that “He loves Constantinople, to which he owes everything.”

Giuseppe even encouraged his brother to move to Constantinople, but Gaetano declined. “I do not want to play the fool like my brother, the Bey, who, after having earned more than I perhaps, stays there in ancient Byzantium to scratch his belly between the plague and the stake,” wrote Gaetano.

Giuseppe moved to Constantinople two years after the creation of the Imperial Musical School (Muzıka-i Hümâyûn), which was an Ottoman institution which trained its students in Western style of music. He was specifically recruited as an expert to help lead this effort.

Giuseppe’s younger brother, Gaetano. By Francesco Coghetti, 1837

Gaetano Donizetti, though younger than Giuseppe, became the much more successful and internationally well-known brother, producing nearly 70 operas in his life. Gaetano is considered one of the most successful opera composers in history. Because of this, Giuseppe is widely known as Gaetano Donizetti’s brother. The historian Emre Aracı pointed out that this has actually been good for Giuseppe’s reputation because it has enabled him to be remembered when many other composers have been forgotten.

Both brothers were awarded the Ottoman Order of Nișan-i Iftihar. When Gaetano received the award at the Ottoman Embassy in Paris, he proudly said: “Napoleon belongs to two centuries, I to two religions.”

Burial:

Giuseppe died in 1856, and is buried in the vaults of St. Esprit Cathedral, on the European side of Constantinople, in the district called Pera (now called Beyoğlu). According to Emre Aracı, the district “was once the home of a thriving Christian community”. The Church was built in 1846, 10 years before Giuseppe died.

Interior of St. Esprit Cathedral

Giuseppe and his brother Gaetano are two great success stories and examples of people from impoverished backgrounds who go on to live prosperous and interesting lives.

Sources:

Herbert Weinstock, Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, 1963

Emre Aracı, Giuseppe Donizetti at the Ottoman Court: A Levantine Life, The Musical Times, Vol. 143, No. 1880 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 49-56

Emre Aracı, Giuseppe Donizetti Pasha and the Polyphonic Court Music of the Ottoman Empire, The Court Historian, Volume 7, 2 December 2002

Özgecan Karadağli, Western Performing Arts in the Late Ottoman Empire: Accommodation and Formation, 2020

[bighandsforabigheart]

Thinking about scuba diving au now where Solo and Gaby are the local instructors and Illya dives with them

Solo’s flirting so hard but Illya’s only interested in the fishes. And sharks. And rays. And all the other cool marine animals. He’s trying to get Illya to talk about his personal life on the boat ride to the dive location but it always comes back to talking about the ocean. Which Solo doesn’t mind but he really really wants to get to know Illya before he has to leave back home. Gaby thinks it’s funny because it’s usually the divers hitting on Solo and she’s never seen him be that desperate.

(This entire thing is because one of the instructors today went “…or you can enjoy a show of shirtless sweaty men carry heavy equipment!” with a wink when we were getting off and I immediately thought of Napoleon saying that instead of processing what he said like a regular person)

[etymology-of-the-emblem]

Xander / マークス and Ryoma / リョウマ

Xander is the crown prince of the kingdom of Nohr and wielder of the sword Siegfried in Fire Emblem Fates. The name Xander is a short form of Alexander, a Greek-based name. Considering he is a major character and face of the Conquest route, he is likely named after Alexander the Great, the famous Macedonian king and general; he widely expanded his kingdom to one of history's largest empires. Much like Nohr, Greece under Alexander's rule looked eastward, invading through India until halted by the Persian Empire. Considering that Xander's mother Katerina (or Yekaterina in Japanese) is named after Russian Empress Catherine the Great, there may be an intentional throughline of powerful rulers carrying the "Great" epithet. There could also take influence from Catherine's grandson Alexander I of Russia, emperor during the Napoleonic Wars. Ironic in a sense, this would make the prince of the invading nation named after an emperor who was unsuccessfully invaded.

In Japanese, Xander's name is マークス (rōmaji: mākusu), romanized as Marks. The name is most likely a corruption of マルクス (rōmaji: marukusu). While this can be used for the name Marx like early fan translations addressed the character by, it also can be used for the Latin name Marcus (also rendered as マーカス; rōmaji: mākasu). This choice is most associated with Roman political figure Marcus Antonius, better-known thanks to Shakespeare as Mark Antony (マーク・アントニー; rōmaji: māk antonī). Mark Antony was a general serving under Gaius Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars and, after the conquest and rising tensions among the First Triumvirate, during the Civil War. Before war erupted, he went to the Roman Senate in an attempt to peacefully settle the conflict, but his pleas were largely resisted. After Caesar became dictator of Rome, Antony served as his second in command and, after the formation of his cult, the high priest. Following the assassination of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony agreed to be a member of the Second Triumvirate alongside Caesar's heir Octavian and Marcus Lepidus, and divided the Roman Republic amongst them. However, tensions between him and Octavian were high, especially as after his marriage to the young Caesar's sister he maintained an affair with Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. Eventually, this strain birthed the War of Actium between Rome and Egypt, with Antony declared a traitor. When the couple had their backs against the wall as Rome invaded Egypt, they took their own lives, leaving Octavian as the sole ruler of Rome, which he soon converted into the Roman Empire under his new name Caesar Augustus. Xander seems to take influence from Mark Antony more so as they both were respected military leaders with tense relations to the powers they support - Garon and Julius Caesar - but proudly follow them despite such. Additionally, Shakespeare popularized the image of Mark Antony being a tragic figure in Antony and Cleopatra. Especially in Birthright Xander can be interpreted as a tragic figure, like most following the "Camus-archetype" in the Fire Emblem series. It could also be argued based on some of Xander's lines that his death in Birthright was of his own intention, further relating to Mark Antony.

Ryoma (JP: リョウマ; rōmaji: ryouma) is the high prince of the kingdom of Hoshido and wielder of the blade Raijinto. He is named after Sakamoto Ryouma (坂本龍馬), a master swordsman and political activist following the end of Japan's isolationist policy brought about by the forceful arrival of United States Commodore Matthew Perry. Born to a low-ranking samurai family, Sakamoto dropped out of school at an early age to pursue the blade in Edo, becoming a master kenjutsu instructor come his early twenties. Soon after returning to his home domain of Tosa, he was an early member of the Tosa Loyalist Party, one of many organizations that were dissatisfied with the Tokugawa Shogunate (a military dictatorship) and desired power to lie in the hands of the Imperial Court once more. As the Tosa Loyalists, purely focused on their domain, began plotting the assassination of the local governor - a man largely focused on modernization - Sakamoto, whose interests lay more with the army of Satsuma marching on Edo, left Tosa. The act of leaving one's clan was not acceptable and brought about the death penalty and left one denounced as a rōnin. He traveled back to Edo, where he and a colleague planned to assassinate Katsu Kaishu, a member of the Shogunate and a major influence on Japan's westernization. Upon meeting Katsu, however, Sakamoto was convinced of the need for westernization and the development of Japan's naval force. He became an assistant and mentee of Katsu. When Katsu was dismissed by the shogunate and his naval training center done away with, Sakamoto and other students were taken in by the Satsuma domain. Here he established Kameyama Shachū, a trading and shipping company through which he allied the opposing domains of Satsuma and Chōshū. Together, Satsuma and Chōshū were able to best the Tokugawa Shogunate and brought about the Meiji Restoration. Shortly before the start of the Boshin War, however, Sakamoto Ryouma was assassinated by the Mimawarigumi, a police force established by the shogunate. Fire Emblem's Ryoma obviously takes inspiration from the historical figure as a skilled wielder of katanas, but also in his participation in a revolution, seen in his affiliation with the Chevois Rebellion. A comparison can also be made between Ryoma's sudden disappearance from Hoshido to support the western-based revolt and Sakamoto Ryouma's leaving of Tosa to support the movement against the Tokugawa Shogunate, while growing in understanding of the westernization movement from his superior. Additionally, Sakamoto bringing peace between the feuding Satsuma and Chōshū domains to dismantle the shogunate may have some influence upon Corrin being able to bring peace between Nohr and Hoshido to bring war to Valla.

There are notable parallels between the purported namesakes of Xander and Ryoma. Both Mark Antony and Sakamoto Ryouma were major political figures in times of unrest in their countries during the buildup of a shift from militaristic dictatorships to placing power in the hands of an emperor followed by a period of peace. Both instances feature the subject as a major player in the conflicts leading to an imperial system but dies shortly before such a change is adopted. The endings of both of their lives can be reflected in Xander and Ryoma, who in their respective route opposing Corrin die in battle shortly before peace is found between the warring kingdoms.

[deusvervewrites]

I don't know what was going on in France in this era

It wasn't France, just Paris. The Parisians tend to try and lynch the government every time it angers them (1789 wasn't the first or last time, or even the most egregious. That would be 1418)... And after 1871 they were more furious than in 1789, only this time the government won (it was the second and last time, and the first time it had taken Napoleon himself) and had the gall of replacing their police with state cops nobody liked.

Thus the Parisians didn't help them against the gangs, and when the gangs started getting out of control the commoners hired sailors from Marseille to teach them Savate, the rich and nobles hired cavalrymen to teach them battlefield sword techniques to adapt to their walking sticks (and since they paid well the instructors resurrected a few arming sword techniques for the heavier canes), and then they cross trained. Maybe helping the police out would have been simpler, but they were angry at them too.

Wild

[abwwia]

Pauline Auzou, born Jeanne-Marie-Catherine Desmarquets (24 March 1775 – 15 May 1835) was a French painter and art instructor, who exhibited at the Paris Salon and was commissioned to make paintings of Napoleon and his wife Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma. via Wikipedia

#AryHetstory #FrenchArt #PalianShow #arthistory

[rockislandadultreads]

More Historical Fantasy Recommendations

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Young Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that old stone wall, Tristran learns, lies Faerie—where nothing not even a fallen star, is what he imagined.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

The year is 1806. England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon, and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation's past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell, whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country.

Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange.

Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrel. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.

This is the first volume in the “Strange & Norrell” series.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

In Marion Zimmer Bradley's masterpiece, we see the tumult and adventures of Camelot's court through the eyes of the women who bolstered the king's rise and schemed for his fall. From their childhoods through the ultimate fulfillment of their destinies, we follow these women and the diverse cast of characters that surrounds them as the great Arthurian epic unfolds stunningly before us. As Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar struggle for control over the fate of Arthur's kingdom, as the Knights of the Round Table take on their infamous quest, as Merlin and Viviane wield their magics for the future of Old Britain, the Isle of Avalon slips further into the impenetrable mists of memory, until the fissure between old and new worlds' and old and new religions' claims its most famous victim.

This is the first volume in the “Avalon” series.

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 91 and 92 Subbed (Finalized)

(Previously: Episodes 89 and 90 Subbed [Finalized])

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

TURN-91: The Grim Reaper’s One-Turn Kill

Rumors have spread of a duelist taking part in GeneX who defeats his opponents in one turn.  This turns out to be Tachibana, who gained his drawing power through a pact with a Grim Reaper card.  Judai ends up dueling Tachibana, who’s sold his soul to the Grim Reaper, and with the start of their duel, Tachibana draws his “One-Hit Knockout! Slash Draw” Magic Card and comes at Judai with his One-Turn Kill. Can Judai possibly...

TURN-92: The Triangle Duel

As word goes around that rank-and-file Instructor Chronos and Vice-Principal Napoleon are being “fired,” Principal Samejima shouts “Get out of here!” at them.  They were both disheartened, but they happen to catch Chairman Pegasus of Industrial Illusions, Inc., on his way to visit Principal Samejima, and they ask for employment with I2.  Pegasus says he will approve their employment if they somehow defeat him in a duel, and so starts a Triangle Duel between Pegasus, Chronos, and Napoleon.  Can Chronos and Napoleon hope to...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Pegasus voice* I give you finalized!91 and 92! deeeesu

Slight delay in finalizing these aside, these episodes aren’t too bad; some continuity with the Duel Academia’s North Campus in Tachibana and his struggle to make the decks he cares about work, making him turn to a Grim Reaper spirit promising to improve his drawing ability--at the cost of his soul. Works well enough for a one-shot episode in GX, nice seeing another One-Turn Kill strategy after Ojin’s in 84, plus the animation looks really good throughout, along with “Impossible Victory” being used as Tachibana switches arms with his Disk to reject the Grim Reaper’s influence.  92′s fun with Pegasus making another cameo--this time, actually dueling--and the premise being that Chronos and Napoleon thought Samejima fired them when he was just frustrated was up GX’s humor alley--though it is interesting Toon Kingdom didn’t come out in the card game until long after GX (I liked the shot of it as we see Toon Red Archery Girl, Toon Summoned Daemon, and the other Toons he used in DM as a nice homage).  Pegasus’ll still have some time in S2 and S3, related to the plot Samejima thought about early in the episode, so he’ll be back.  Kind of a shame they didn’t make a GX remix for his Toon World theme from DM though, lol; points to the dub for using theirs.  (Tachibana’s voice in the dub was also really good.)

Edit-wise, both episodes had a fair amount of fixes I applied, mostly on the card error and quality-of-watching end (including some interesting split-screen issues), but there were 2-3 bigger ones I was able to make work; due to Tumblr’s dumb link limit in posts yeeting them out of the tags used for them and limiting their reach, and since I still wanted a visual element to it, I’ve made a separate post with my usual fix/edit breakdown for the interested!

Anywho, enjoy! These make for a little breather as we get into Judai vs White Asuka next time and some changes to Saiou’s SOLA plans.  Been looking forward to revisiting the next stretch of eps for a while as Season 2 closes on some of its best episodes; should be fun.

[pargolettasworld]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOepZQwvAlo

In my experience, if Jacques-Fromental Halévy crops up in a music history class, it will be in connection with two points of interest.  1.  He composed the opera La Juive, which music history instructors like to trot out as a prime example of nineteenth-century French opera, and 2.  He was a Jewish composer whom Richard Wagner actually kind of liked.* Certainly if you went by the kind of music history teaching I received, you could get the impression that Halévy was just A Pretty Darn Good Composer, who just happened to be Jewish, a happenstance upon which the fact that he composed an opera called La Juive has absolutely no bearing.

But it did have some bearing!  Like a lot of Pretty Darn Good Jewish Composers, Halévy came from a cantorial family, and he knew his way around the liturgy, even the versions of it that emerged from the twin pressures of the French Revolution and Napoleon.  This is a choral setting of part of Psalm 118** that Halévy composed for his nephew’s wedding in 1858.  It was also used for a synagogue dedication in 1874, so one would imagine that it kept circulating for various events over sixteen years, and maybe built up some cachet to be used again rather than Halévy just composing something new for the occasion.

*I haven’t heard anything about what Cosima Wagner, the Natasha Fatale to Richard’s Boris Badenov, thought about Halévy.

**Psalm 118 is very long, and it has multiple jarring shifts of perspective, mood, and topic.  Noah Aronson thinks that Psalm 118 may be intended to represent the diverse thoughts of a whole crowd of people coming to the Temple for a festival, which is one of the better interpretations of it that I’ve heard.  But because it is so patchwork, not many people are inspired to set the whole thing to one piece of music.***

***That being said, if anyone were tempted to do that, I’d lay money that it would be a shape-note composer.

[deadmandairyland]

Came up with another concept for a possible Super Daryl Deluxe fic in the future if I can come up with more specific details for it:

A somewhat more mundane AU with no world-ending or teenager-murdering plots (man, this seems to crop up a little too often in media I like). It’d have some on-the-nose title, like “The Surprisingly Mundane Adventures of Daryl Whitelaw” or something, but it would still be a bit crazy, kinda like BakaTest (but without the summoned beasts) or maybe even Nichijou if I’m feeling ambitious.

Here are some basic ideas floating around my head:

Daryl has an overactive imagination but almost never speaks (which is pretty much canon already). Basically in this universe, even if it turned out that Daryl actually does believe the events of the game happened, it’s all in his head (which I think could actually be a funny concept, and it’s even touched upon somewhat in the game before eventually blindsiding you with a “Holy shit, this stuff is actually happening” epiphany).

Daryl can speak but is super awkward and doesn’t really know how to speak to people. On the rare occasions that Daryl does speak, he of course sounds like Napoleon Dynamite.

Instead of being an isolated girl living in the vents, Princess is something of a queen bee at the school (with Daryl being completely convinced that she’s literally royalty and an ice queen that’s waiting for a dashing prince to thaw her or whatever). She’d be kind of a Pacifica Northwest kind of character, and her name would literally just be Princess Bavarius because why not.

Eli Bavarius is not an eons-old doomsday supervillain, but something like... idk, a superintendent or some kind of government official? Someone that still has a lot of power over the school and is a bit of a dick. He can still have a skull for a face though, I think that would still fit the story. Maybe a result of the escalator incident? Will the escalator get a Historical Villain Upgrade in this? These are the real questions.

In the same vein of Eli still having the skull for a face, Vice Principal Robatto can still be a robot, again because why not.

Potential Love Interests (TM): So if Daryl is both our Archie and basically our hilariously clueless harem anime protagonist, Princess would obviously be our Veronica. Beyond that, I think Abby and Skill Sorceress (OOF, that’s going to be the hard part, coming up with names for the DnD characters. I don’t want to be calling Skill Sorceress, well, “Skill Sorceress” the entire time, and I don’t want to confuse everyone by calling her “the Homestuck” the whole time either) would make for good Bettys. Plenty of comedic potential there. As for the gay option I’m thinking... Saving Instructor (who I also need to come up with a name for because “Saving Instructor” doesn’t even make sense outside of a video game and I’m not calling him “the Weeb” the whole time either). We never see what’s under the Goku mask either, maybe he removes it at some point and he turns out to be a bishonen all along, complete with sparkles.

No, Paul and Alan will not be love interests for Daryl. I can’t do that to poor Daryl. I can do a lot of things to poor Daryl, but not that.

Possible Side Ships (TM): So right now all I’m thinking is that if I don’t end up pairing Abby with Daryl I’m probably going to pair her with either Monica or Claire, and if I don’t pair her with Claire then I'm probably going to pair Claire with Steve (insert haha funny Resident Evil joke here), but that’s pretty much all I can think of at the moment.

Non-Romantic Character Dynamic of Note (TM): I want Time Knight and his sister to be major characters. I just love their whole dynamic of the sister being like “My brother is the coolest, he’s the best brother ever and roleplaying with him is so much fun!” and meanwhile Time Knight is just the biggest delusional asshole on the planet. I don’t think we ever see them on screen together in the game so just imagining scenarios where they’re interacting is fun.

Anyway, that’s all I got for now. I mean it’s a lot to go off of, but actually coming up with a coherent plot out of this is the hard part. Only time will tell if we will see anything come out of either this or my “Super Abby Advance” idea.

[empirearchives]

The Artist in his Atelier

about 1805–1808, Napoleonic era

Christiaan Andriessen (Dutch, 1775 - 1846)

Sitting at a drafting table in a private drawing school, an artist concentrates on his work. Pots of ink and drawing instruments lay on the table, while plaster casts of classicizing reliefs--common teaching implements in drawing schools--hang on the wall. This vivid watercolor is notable not only for its beauty but for the way in which it reveals the cultural life of the early 1800s. During this period, the art of drawing expanded its influence, leaving the confines of the academy and entering the homes of the middle-class. Andriessen derived his primary source of income from his activity as a private drawing instructor. There is speculation that this may be a self-portrait of the artist in his studio.

Source: Getty Museum

[k12academics]

Fun for All Ages at the VBMA Children’s Art Festival

Free event takes place on Saturday, April 27, 2024

Vero Beach, FL—The entire family is welcome at the Vero Beach Museum of Art on Saturday, April 27 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the Children’s Art Festival. The FREE, all-ages event, is the museum’s annual celebration of the arts and art making. Attendees will enjoy art-making activities, music and dance performances, food trucks, art hunts, docent-led tours of the galleries, and free admission to Ancient Egypt & the Napoleonic Era: Masterworks from the Dahesh Museum of Art—on view only through April 28.

Awaken your inner artist as you engage with VBMA instructors and local art teachers in special art-making opportunities inspired by the Ancient Egypt & the Napoleonic Era exhibit, including

Easy Easel Painting—After visiting the museum galleries, use acrylics, canvases, and easels to create your masterpiece with VBMA instructor and local artist Vicki Marsango;

Symmetrical Scarab Studio—Discover the art and symmetry of scarabs and create colorful interpretations with markers and metallic colors with VBMA instructor and local artist Karla Nester;

Pyramid Palooza—Step into the world of ancient architects and craft 3-D pyramids set against the backdrop of the desert, and decorate them with stickers and gems with VBMA instructor and local artist Camy de Mario;

Golden Glyphs: Hieroglyph Hangups—Channel ancient scribes by etching your name or designs onto papyrus and create a hanging cartouche adorned with gold foil with VBMA instructor Pearl Lau; and

Sands of Creativity—Capture the essence of ancient Egypt as you craft a torn paper landscape of the Egyptian desert, complete with silhouetted palm trees and iconic pyramids with School District of Indian River County art teacher Sophie Strazinsky.

VBMA docents will facilitate additional family-friendly activities and tours in the galleries. Multiple student art exhibitions will also be on view. An Artistic Discovery: 2024 Congressional Art Show Exhibition presented by U.S. Congressman Bill Posey may be viewed in Holmes Great Hall, the School District of Indian River County Student Art Exhibit will be on display in the Atrium, and the Indian River County Secondary Student Exhibition will be on view in the Patten Community Gallery.

Guests will delight in live performances by local youth groups, including the Beachland Elementary Shark Singers, the Imagine South Vero Tangerines, the Fratelli Quartet, Indian River Charter High School Dance, the Rosewood Magnet Panther Performers, the Osceola Singers & Explorer Ensemble, the Liberty Magnet Eagle Orff and Chorus, and the Gifford Youth Orchestra.

Tasty meals, snacks, and refreshments will be available for purchase from Kona Ice, Dolly’s Table, and Saussie Pig. The Vero Beach Museum of Art is located at 3001 Riverside Park Drive in Vero Beach, Florida. For more information about museum exhibitions, family programming, art classes, and more, visit vbmuseum.org.