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Books, Autographs & Prints / Part I

Tuesday 30 March 2021, 03:00 PM • Rome

8

Bonaparte, Napoleone / di Beauharnais, Eugenio / Palmanova,

Letter from Napoleon Bonaparte to Prince Eugene, 1808

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Information

Letter signed by Napoleon with his usual signature, dated Bayonne 18 May 1808, in 4 ° one side and two lines on the reverse, 228 x 185 mm., Addressed to Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy.

Specialist Notes

Important document concerning the works of the fortifications of "Palma Nova" , in particular of the famous Napoleonic "lunettes" which starting & nbsp; from l 1805 they were erected outside the ancient Venetian fortifications to further consolidate the famous fortress-city. The document demonstrates the importance that the Emperor attached to this structure, a gem of military architecture of all times, as a key point of the defensive system of his empire, but also the almost obsessive attention to every detail that Napoleon showed for most remote edges of his domain and the perfect knowledge of the terms and technical details of the various disciplines.
Napoleon personally dictates to his adopted son Eugenio a series of very detailed provisions for the finishing of the defensive structures of Palmanova. "My son, reflecting on the works & nbsp; from & nbsp; to accomplish this year in Palma Nova, I came to the following idea "... in fact states in the letter that:" we will finish covering the counter-shoes of the lunettes, as had been decided, but no shoes will be made if not two lunettes ", and" the 250,000 francs allocated for the shoe of the third lunette are instead used to build fourteen brick reduced ", or fourteen passages that flank the covered walkways of the lunettes, so that" by the end of the year the structure has achieved a further degree of strength ". He also orders the Viceroy to write to General Chasseloup [Gen. François Chasselooup-Laubat, Commander-in-Chief of the Engineers of the Grande Armée & nbsp; from l 1806 and general manager of the works of strongholds in Italy & nbsp; da l 1808]“ let him know that I give importance to these works that will protect this work perfectly & nbsp; from & nbsp; hand strokes".
A great historical document, of the utmost importance to understand how it was built also on the smallest details of the Napoleonic military strategy.