Name/Title
ThermometerEntry/Object ID
2012.6.3Description
Thermometer set within a miniature architectural model of the Austerlitz Column erected in the Place Vendôme in Paris. It is dark green with patinated bronze and brass on a black marble base. The name "Massin" is etched onto the underside of the brass platform. The top features a man in a long coat and wide hat. Two birds appear at the base.Use
Miniature models like this were popular with Grand Tour travelers in the nineteenth century and were available in sizes ranging from 8¼ inches to nearly 6 feet. The popularity of miniature columns was enhanced by the addition of a liquid mercury thermometer which allowed the objects to be functional souvenirs. As the degrees on this gauge are given in Fahrenheit as well as Centigrade (more commonly known as Celsius), a thermometer like this would have had broad appeal to tourists from around the world.Context
American naval captain Joshua Nash (c. 1800–1861) purchased this 14¼ inch tall miniature reproduction of the Austerlitz Column in Paris while working in Italy in the 1840s and subsequently passed it on to future generations.
The original Austerlitz Column in the Place Vendôme was proposed by Napoleon Bonaparte's (1769–1821) chief artistic advisor and modeled after the ancient columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius in Rome. Unlike the marble prototypes from antiquity, the Austerlitz Column is encased in bronze panels cast from cannons captured on the battlefield of Austerlitz.
Completed in 1810, the column originally featured a sculpture by Antoine-Denis Chaudet (1763–1810) depicting Napoleon as a Roman emperor. After Napoleon’s defeat and exile to Elba in 1814, members of the Sixth Coalition replaced the sculpture with a Bourbon flag. In 1833, King Louis Philippe (1773–1850) commissioned Charles Émile Seurre (1798–1858) to produce a new statue of Napoleon dressed in a military uniform and greatcoat wearing his familiar bicorn hat. It is this representation of the emperor that was used for the figurine on Nash's souvenir. In 1864, Seurre’s sculpture was removed at the command of the Emperor Napoleon III (1808–1873) and replaced by an interpretation of Chaudet’s original.Dimensions
Height
14-1/4 inWidth
5 inDepth
5 inRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Dr. Martha Belle Caldwell, Joshua Nash
