Napoleon's world is on display for a landmark auction, from divorce papers to his iconic hat
After the Hollywood epic 'Napoleon' exposed the legendary emperor to a new generation two years ago, over 100 relics — which shaped empires, broke hearts and spawned centuries of fascination — are on display in Paris ahead of what experts call one of the most important Napoleonic auctions ever staged.
His battered military hat. A sleeve from his red velvet coat. Even the divorce papers that ended one of history's most tormented romances — with Josephine, the empress who haunted him to the end.
Two centuries after his downfall, Napoleon remains both revered and controversial in France — but above all, unavoidable. Polls have shown that many admire his vision and achievements, while others condemn his wars and authoritarian rule. Nearly all agree his legacy still shapes the nation.
'These are not just museum pieces. They're fragments of a life that changed history,' said Louis-Xavier Joseph, Sotheby's head of European furniture, who helped assemble the trove. 'You can literally hold a piece of Napoleon's world in your hand.'
From battlefields to boudoirs
The auction — aiming to make in excess of 7 million euros ($7.5 million) — is a biography in objects. The centerpiece is Napoleon's iconic bicorne hat, the black felt chapeau he wore in battle — with wings parallel to his shoulders — so soldiers and enemies could spot him instantly through the gunpowder haze.
'Put a bicorne on a table, and people think of Napoleon immediately,' Joseph said. 'It's like the laurel crown of Julius Caesar.'
The hat is estimated to sell for at least over half a million dollars.
For all the pageantry — throne, swords, the Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honor — the auction's true power comes from its intimacy. It includes the handwritten codicil of Napoleon's final will, composed in paranoia and illness on Saint Helena.
There is the heartbreakingly personal: the red portfolio that once contained his divorce decree from Josephine, the religious marriage certificate that formalized their love and a dressing table designed for the empress. Her famed mirror reflects the ambition and tragedy of their alliance.
'Napoleon was a great lover; his letters that he wrote are full of fervor, of love, of passion,' Joseph said. 'It was also a man who paid attention to his image. Maybe one of the first to be so careful of his image, both public and private.'
A new generation of exposure
The auction's timing is cinematic. The recent biopic grossed over $220 million worldwide and reanimated Napoleon's myth for a TikTok generation hungry for stories of ambition, downfall and doomed romance.
The auction preview is open to the public, running through June 24, with the auction set for June 25.
Not far from the Arc de Triomphe monument dedicated to the general's victories, Djamal Oussedik, 22, shrugged: 'Everyone grows up with Napoleon, for better or worse. Some people admire him, others blame him for everything. But to see his hat and his bed, you remember he was a real man, not just a legend.'
'You can't escape him, even if you wanted to. He's part of being French," said teacher Laure Mallet, 51.
History as spectacle
The exhibition is a spectacle crafted by celebrity designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, famed for dressing Lady Gaga and Pope John Paul II.
'I wanted to electrify history,' Castelbajac said. 'This isn't a mausoleum, it's a pop culture installation. Today's collectors buy a Napoleon artifact the way they'd buy a guitar from Jimi Hendrix. They want a cabinet of curiosities.'
He's filled the show with fog, hypnotic music and immersive rooms. One is inspired by the camouflage colors of Fontainebleau. Another is anchored by Napoleon's legendary folding bed. 'I create the fog in the entrance of the Sotheby's building because the elements of nature were an accomplice to Napoleon's strategy,' the designer said.
Castelbajac, who said his ancestor fought in Napoleon's Russian campaign, brought a personal touch. 'I covered the emperor's bed in original canvas. You can feel he was just alone, facing all he had built. There's a ghostly presence."
He even created something Napoleon only dreamed of. 'Napoleon always wanted a green flag instead of the blue, white, red tricolore of the revolution," he said, smiling. "He never got one. So I made it for Sotheby's.'
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Yet what if, with expansion, the limit of two clubs per country — barring continental champions, which is why Brazil have four here — was lifted? Liverpool, City, Chelsea and Arsenal could become a permanent Champions League/Club World Cup bloc, pulling away from their rivals financially. The next stage of the development has to be handled very carefully, then. Do we trust Infantino, the Fifa president, with that? Do we buffalo. Class of 2021 prove form doesn't matter One of the criticisms of the Club World Cup is that the qualification period is too long and there should be more recency bias. How are the present champions of England, Italy and Spain not present, yet Chelsea, the winners of the 2021 Champions League final and subsequently third, 12th, sixth and fourth in the Premier League, are? Put simply, if the competition is to take place every four years, it is right that the four Champions League winners are here. 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River Plate and Estudiantes have four titles each, Boca Juniors six and Independiente seven. The only club in that company not from Argentina is Peñarol, of Uruguay, with five. No Brazilian club has been South American champions more than three times. Yet the past six years have brought a clean sweep of Brazilian winners, and four all-Brazilian finals, too. Since 2019, six different clubs from Brazil have reached the final, and only two from Argentina. A spread of seven different Argentinian finalists would require a countback to 1992. Winning a World Cup papers over some pretty big cracks. So does having Lionel Messi. Leaving Qatar in 2022, it was possible to think not much was wrong with Argentinian football. And in many ways, not much is. Even at 38, Messi's allure remains, as has been proven here. Argentinian talent is central to many of the best clubs in Europe, including Premier League champions, Liverpool. Yet its club football is weak, compared to Brazil. While a quartet of Brazilian clubs sailed into the round of 16 at the Club World Cup, both of Argentina's went home, Boca Juniors embarrassed having failed to beat Auckland City, while River Plate missed out to Monterrey of Mexico. Argentina no longer makes the sponsorship deals the Brazilians attract, no longer competes consistently for the biggest club prize. The money here will be a welcome bonus, but it is still swamped by what Brazil's quartet will reap. So Brazil will continue attracting the best of South America that does not go to Europe, Argentina will continue feeding off past glories, and one very present one. Both, however, hide a troubling reality for Argentina's clubs. Werner's reminder of Kaufman's inspired, unruly genius My colleague Matt Lawton's excellent interview with the Liverpool chairman Tom Werner found him telling stories of the comedian Andy Kaufman, who played Latka Gravas in Taxi. Werner, whose credits as a producer also include Roseanne and Third Rock From The Sun, had contracted Kaufman to perform Latka in the style of his character Foreign Man. But Kaufman, having accepted the role, hated Taxi, hated conventional sitcom and hated what the show did with his talent, too. He hated it so much, in fact, that he would stop his shows if anyone starting calling for Latka. He would warn that, if it happened again, he would educate by reading The Great Gatsby aloud for the remainder of the performance. Inevitably, someone in the crowd would test his patience. At which point Kaufman would stop and open the book. He often read the entire first chapter, before asking the audience if they wanted him to continue or to play a record. Kaufman had a lot of very funny routines involving the playing of records. The audience would cry out for the record. At which point, Kaufman would walk over and very slowly and methodically put on a recording — of him reading The Great Gatsby from exactly the point at which he had just stopped. For inspired, unruly genius, Mario Balotelli had nothing on that man. You've changed, Andy According to the Wimbledon chairwoman Debbie Jevans, Sir Andy Murray will help with the design of the statue to be built in his honour at the All England Club. If true, that is the least Andy Murray thing the man has ever done in his life. Unfairly treated, but Ruud should have put Leicester's needs before his own reputation Ruud Van Nistelrooy was not treated well by Leicester City, left hanging until long after the season ended. Some of his players seemed a poor lot, too, and much of the uncertainty around Leicester was a combination of dismal management and the continued vindictiveness of modern football administrators, folk who will not be satisfied until they have pushed a struggling club over a cliff. However, from the start, Van Nistelrooy did not look a good fit. Leicester were hardly thriving under Steve Cooper but he was working with significant limitations and had kept them out of the bottom three. They needed hands-on management, instead Van Nistelrooy watched his first game, away to Brentford, from the stands. Ostensibly, this was to learn more about the team. Yet Van Nistelrooy had taken four games in charge of Manchester United, and two were against Leicester. He probably knew more about them than any manager bar Cooper. It smacked of shielding his reputation. Brentford, at the time, had the best form of any home team in the country, including Liverpool — and duly beat Leicester 4-1. It meant, however, that Van Nistelrooy's first game was at home to West Ham United who were in equally pitiful form. He won that match, and then one other, before Leicester were relegated. So, yes, Van Nistelrooy was poorly served by Leicester; but it cuts both ways. Shattered players? Don't be so sure The prevalent wisdom is that the two English clubs at the Club World Cup will be shattered come the middle of the domestic campaign, having moved from here to pre-season training with barely a break. Do not be so sure. Both seem to be using this as pre-season, and will probably give the players extended time off when the tournament concludes. New signings will have bedded in, too. Not saying it works. But not saying it won't.
