This French-language catalogue was published for the exhibition Napoléon III et les principautés roumaines presented at the National museum of Art of Romania, Bucarest until 1 February 2009, then at the national museum in the Compiègne castle from March 21st 2009 to June 29th 2009.
At the beginning of the 19th century, nationality issues haunt many European peoples.
In France, Napoleon III advocates the people's right to dispose of itself. He uses his influence to encourage the union merging of two Romanian principalities, Moldavia and Walachia, first by supporting the Francophile Alexandru Ioan Cuza, then Prince Charles de Hohenzollern who was to become Carol 1st of Romania.
Organised on the occasion of the bicentenary of Napoleon III' birth, the exhibition successively presented in Bucarest then in Compiègne enables, for the first time, the discovery and illustration of the progressive connections between France and Romania since the 18th century that have forged a long-term friendship between these two countries.
Evoking the works of Napoleon III, the exhibition's point ends in 1881 with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Romania.
This historical period is illustrated by several archive documents, like the Paris treaty, 1856, and the Berlin treaty 1878.
The links between France and the first ruling princes of the united principalities are evoked in particular by Charles de Hohenzollern's stays in Compiègne and Paris.
Pieces of the gold treasure of Pietroasa remind of the presence of Romania at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867.
But the connections between both countries also touch the artistic field, as shown by the highlight on the works of Grigorescu and the painters of the Ecole de Barbizon.
This presentation pays tribute the foreign policy of the Emperor whilst also exploring the birth of contemporary Romania, now a member of the European Union.
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