This is undoubtedly the high point of the Napoleonic gesture: on December 2, 1805, the Battle of Austerlitz saw the Grand Army prevail over the Russian and Austrian troops, thus putting an end to the War of the Third Coalition.
The course of the decisive confrontation has since been regarded as a marvel of military tactics;
a reputation which gives all the more value to Napoleon's manuscript recounting the battle which will be put on sale at the end of January in Paris.
Read also: In the footsteps of Napoleon: Austerlitz, the perfect battle
74 densely written pages long, the manuscript recounts in great detail - and always to its advantage - the preparations and progress of the Battle of Austerlitz.
It was dictated by the deposed Emperor to General Henri-Gatien Bertrand, who had followed him into exile in the small island in the South Atlantic.
Accompanied by a plan of the battle on tracing paper drawn by the general, the document is corrected eleven times by Napoleon, with redactions and notules inscribed in the margins.
The historical document will be exhibited in Paris for the first time from January 27 to 30 by Arts & Autographes gallery, with a starting price set at one million euros.
This sale takes place within the framework of the Belgian art and antiques fair BRAFA in the Galleries, in which 126 galleries from 13 different countries participate.
The 2021 edition, Covid obliges, will be held in the respective galleries, each of which can present up to nine works that collectors can see on the spot or spot on the web.
Read also: Saint Helena struggles to find her Napoleon for the bicentenary of the emperor's death
Bicentenary of the death of Napléon
The sale of this manuscript comes as the year of the bicentenary of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) begins.
The object was acquired in the 1970s by the owner of the gallery, Jean-Emmanuel Raux, an expert in manuscripts and autographs, who collects documents on the Empire.
The expert had found it among masses of papers during the sale of the Bertrand heirs in their chateau in Châteauroux.
It was there that the manuscript on "
the battle of the three emperors
"
was discovered
.
“No one was looking at the writings of Saint Helena at the time. It is the most fabulous historical document that we can find in private hands on the history of France, ”
he told the France Presse agency.
“Napoleon delivers an embellished version of the battle.
We observe it in the intonation of sentences.
It's the famous sun of Austerlitz ”
, observes the gallerist's daughter, Alizée Raux, who has studied this unique piece in detail.
Read also: Saint Helena at the heart of Napoleonic tourism
Another curiosity, Napoleon, still writes "
7 Frimaire
", for December 2, 1805. Now if the republican calendar was still officially still in use in 1805, it had not been used for a long time at the time of his exile in Saint Helena ( the use is abrogated on January 1, 1806).
Finally, the first person is never employed, Bonaparte dictating the formula all the time: "
The emperor says ...
"
Throughout the text, all the pretenses and preparatory tactics - withdrawal, negotiations - to make people believe in the weakness of the Napoleonic army, then the battle are detailed.
The heroism of the troop as of the French officer is exalted, and the soldiers, even seriously wounded, still salute the emperor, according to this account.
A dedication that Napoleon will give them back with a speech which has remained in the annals and which ended with: "
You just have to say 'I was at the battle of Austerlitz', so that we can answer," There you go. a brave man!
"