The artistic work on Napoleon’s tomb that scandalizes France in the days of the bicentenary of the emperor’s death

the skeleton of Napoleon’s favorite horse suspended above the emperor’s monumental tomb, nail art installation on the occasion of bicentenary of his death, scandalized the Bonapartists.

The work, which comes from the imagination of the prestigious artist Pascal ConvertI won’t see the light until next time May 7, two days after the commemoration of Napoleon’s death, but filtering images from it has already caused a huge controversy.

“It is a lack of respect for the character and the place, which is a national necropolis”he told the news agency Efe the historian Thierry lentz, director of the Fondation Napoléon, who was in charge of opposing this work.

The convent rises above the Emperor’s tomb, located under the golden dome of the Chapel of the Palais des Invalides in Paris, the skeleton of Marengo, an Arab-Berber courier that Napoleon would have ridden at the battle of Waterloo.

The specimen was captured by the troops of Wellington this June 18, 1815 and transferred to the other side of the English Channel, where his skeleton is on display in the National Army Museum as spoils of war and a symbol of victory.

As London did not want to lend the relic claiming its deteriorated condition, Convent made a replica in three-dimensional high definition in a sophisticated synthetic material.

“Plastic!”

“Plastic!”his detractors are shouting on social media, adding to accusations of “desecration” Those of the “sacrilege” to wear something so unworthy.

Lentz tries to calm the spirits, mainly because he considers that there is already enough controversy around the bicentenary of the death of Napoleon, accused by many butcher, dictator and slave owner.

The specialist, one of the most recognized voices in the country in defense of the figure of the emperor, nevertheless drags other colleagues, among the most prestigious scholars of the Bonapartist period, scandalized a work that does not understand.

“Let them do it elsewhere, but not on Napoleon’s grave! The horse will be suspended in the air just 50 centimeters from the sarcophagus. People won’t see anything else, it will be difficult to maintain respect and meditation for the deceased, ”Lentz says.

The teacher admitted that does not feel qualified to judge the artistic value of the work and that he does not oppose the installation of contemporary art in historic places. But not in a grave.

Faced with so much controversy, the artist had to defend his work which, he assures, connects with the funeral rituals of antiquity.

The Ministry of Defense has the final say

“In many cases, the horse was not buried next to the knight, if not suspended above his grave, like a kind of vehicle to the afterlife», Explained the convent in the weekly The Obs.

Marengo, adds the artist, represents time the glory and the fall of the emperor and considers that the controversy is explained by the dispute that still surrounds everything that touches Bonaparte, idolized by some, vilified by others.

The Army Museum, which houses the tomb of Napoleon and who commissioned the work from the convent, avoided entering the fight and its director, Ariane James-Sarazin, assured in statements to Efe that have always sought a dialogue between the past and contemporary art.

“We are neither in reverence nor in irreverence, neither in provocation nor in complacency”he explained.

But the noise only increases and some deputies have started to raise controversy in the office of the Minister of Defense, Florence parly, last person in charge of a museum of military affiliation.

Lentz awaits the ceremony to commemorate the two centuries of Napoleon’s death on May 5, which the President of France plans to attend, Emmanuel Macron, near Jean-Christophe Napoleón, current prince of the line founded by the emperor.

“We give a truce, but our goal is that the work does not see the light”, said the historian who wonders why, “if they are so proud of their suspended horse, they did not put it in place two days before for the president to see.”

(With information from EFE)

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