Napoleon inspires Hermes
The muse of the Consulate | Curiosities
Emblematic of Hermès, the famous "Carré" was coined in 1937 to mark the centenary of the company saddlery founded by Thierry Hermes (1801-1878). His son, Charles-Emile, had transferred the house in 1878 at 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore and diversified production. Directly inspired by neckerchiefs for women, very popular in the nineteenth century, the Hermes scarf swung this accessory in the world of women's fashion. The first printed silk scarf, the Omnibus Game and White Ladies, designed by Robert Dumas, drew about him a sort of game of the goose very popular during the Romantic period. This game belonged to the personal collections of Emile-Maurice Hermes (1871-1951), which constituted the first floor of the Paris house a museum members include private creations of artists and vendors who worked for Napoleon, such as architects Percier and Fontaine, Swebach painters Carle Vernet-Desfontaines and the goldsmith or cabinetmaker Biennais and Marcion. It is this collection that formed the inspiration for the designers of the first Hermes scarves, supplemented by funds from other museums in the Army and Navy. The illustration of the Napoleonic era is manifested directly in some scarves, Letter to Murat (1946), A Victory (1948), Victory B (1949), French Harness: 1st Empire (1957), The Grand Army, The Consular Guard , etc.. Until the 80s, it's more than a hundred scarves which was influenced by the military theme or the evocation of daily life under the Empire.
The square Napoleon, whose first edition dates from 1963, was designed by Philippe Ledoux. It offers an amazing synthesis of imperial symbolism and the Napoleonic era. On a planting bee, composition gathers symbolic elements: two flags topped with eagles on their stand which left the coat of First Consul, to right his cavalry uniform, the Grand Collar of the Legion of honor, the sword of the First Consul and the Emperor's Two Swords of the Egyptian campaign and, finally, between all symbol, the legendary hat. Five medallions inspired by famous paintings reminiscent of episodes for the dazzling lights of the Emperor: in the passage above the Great St. Bernard by David and distribution of swords of honor from Big Marengo; down, Napoleon injured in Regensburg after Gautherot and the Battle of Wagram after Horace Vernet, the center's arrival at Notre Dame Dec. 2, 1804 after the engraving of the Sacred Book. Between glorification and legend, the square Napoleon is the epitome of exploration and exploitation of imperial iconography Hermes.
