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 Sujet du message : From Dr Burton to Mme Bertrand
Message Publié : 21 Juin 2003 15:52 
Hi

The letter from Dr Burton to Mme Bertrand, 22 May 1821, concerns his quest to obtain a copy of the death mask of Napoleon, as agreed before taking the mould.

The letter to Mr. Goulburn, 13 August 1821, concerns the refutation of a
statement made by O'Meara in the Morning Chronicle concerning the reason why Dr Antommarchi did not sign the official (English) report of the
post-mortem examination.

From September 1821, a dispute, echoed in newspapers, was started by Dr Burton to claim the authorship of the death mask and his rights to obtain a copy of it. The case was further taken to Bow Street against the French officers, who were then in London, but he lost it.

Last, the wife of Dr Burton later claimed that her husband received a
letter from Antommarchi acknowledging that Burton was the author of the deathmask but... Mrs Burton then stated to have destroyed this letter after her husband's death (1828). Her statement is therefore a bit suspicious.

Albert


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 Sujet du message :
Message Publié : 21 Juin 2003 16:14 
Did Burton ever see the Antommarchi replicas?


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 Sujet du message :
Message Publié : 21 Juin 2003 18:25 
Of course not... :8:

Antommarchi had intentionally waited for Burton's death in 1828, to start arranging a subscription and raise money to produce the deathmask. If Antommarchi had done it before Burton's death, he would have been exposed to litigations because Burton had claimed authorship on the original mould. Burton was not too happy with what happened about the mask and would have been a trouble for Antommarchi.


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 Sujet du message :
Message Publié : 11 Juil 2003 22:27 
Beside Burton, there was ANOTHER Englishman who was present at the making of the mask... in attendance toDr. Burton. I have to check when this person died but, I think, he died later than 1833.


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 Sujet du message :
Message Publié : 11 Juil 2003 22:47 
The third man was Enseign Ward: he made a sketch of the Emperor while Burton was busy with the preparation of the plaster. Then, he was still present when the mask was made and offered to help take it back to Burton's quarters to dry up.

In 1861, Ward was still alive! He was then General Ward ! And he still had the sketch that he made of Napoleon.


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 Sujet du message :
Message Publié : 11 Juil 2003 22:51 
I have more...

Ensign John Ward, of the 66th regiment, made a sketch of Napoleon alive and then dead.
Ward later joined the 91st regiment and... was also in St Helena at the exhumation of 1840! I have to check if he was among the Englishmen present at the exhumation itself!

And Ward died in 1878. If he had believed Antommarchi's mask was a complete fake, why did he shut up?!?


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 Sujet du message :
Message Publié : 12 Juil 2003 1:49 
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Inscription : 14 Déc 2002 16:30
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Ward ? Unknown for me... What sketch ? You have it ?


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 Sujet du message :
Message Publié : 29 Mars 2004 11:55 
Hello Averell

Citer :
First of all, have you checked as you intended to do in your last post if the Ensign Ward was present at the exhumation in 1840?

The only source of information stating his presence is A. Chaplin's "Who is who". I have some doubts though, that Chaplin may have mistaken, because I couldn't find any other source confirming this. But I didn't have the time to dig into this further, to tell the truth. If you have the time, find more details of the life of General John Ward (it's the same than ex Enseign Ward) who died in 1878.

Citer :
What about those two sketches he drew in 1821 that you talked about? Can we find them somewhere on the net? Do you have a copy of them that you could scan for us?

Ward gave them to Burton's family who sent young Mrs Burton to Paris to give all their Napoleon's relics to the new Napoleon III. But she was turned away... Maybe Napoleon III believed she was some intriguant. Captain Burton should have written to Paris before sending his inexperienced wife to ask an audience to the Emperor of the French! In another hand, Napoleon III received the sketch from Rubidge. So the Ward sketches were probably returned to Ward after this failure. Then they must have been sold at auction at his death. I have no trace of them.

Citer :
I find it very surprising that Ward did not say anything about the fake mask made up by Antommarchi in 1833. He should have tried to defend the honour of the late doctor Burton. If this man has left us his memoirs, I bet they should be interesting to read.

Maybe he did. In France too, some people found the mask too good to be true. Even in 2004, we question this mask which is too perfect for a man ~ 2 days after his death. People at the time most thought that the mask had been "arranged" for the posterity.

If you find anything concerning General John Ward, let me know.


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 Sujet du message :
Message Publié : 29 Mars 2004 12:39 
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Albertuk a écrit :
I have more...

Ensign John Ward, of the 66th regiment, made a sketch of Napoleon alive and then dead.
Ward later joined the 91st regiment and... was also in St Helena at the exhumation of 1840! I have to check if he was among the Englishmen present at the exhumation itself!

And Ward died in 1878. If he had believed Antommarchi's mask was a complete fake, why did he shut up?!?


Well, about the sketch of Napoleon dead, we have it...

Look at Imperial Gallery ! Just do it !

But, in 1840, I don't think so: Ward was not at the exhumation.

I have fourteen of them (they were twenty)!

But Captain Blackwell who comanded the 91 th foot infantry detachment, he was.


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 Sujet du message :
Message Publié : 29 Mars 2004 15:29 
Hello

I agree. I believe Chaplin made a mistake: Ward was probably not at the exhumation.

Citer :
I have fourteen of them (they were twenty)!


What is the list? I may compare with my notes and check if we can find the missing names. I haven't made the list of the British attendees but they were people from the governor's staff and the Council of the island.


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