ENGLISH VERSION Gaspard Monge. Dall'Italia (1796-1798). Sellerio Publishers, 1993

Fig. 1) Gaspard Monge

Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro

CLICK HERE FOR ITALIAN VERSION

Gaspard Monge

Dall'Italia (1796-1798) [From Italy]

Edited by Sandro Cardinali and Luigi Pepe

[1] Gaspard Monge – mathematician and inventor of descriptive geometry - worked for the French revolutionary governments. Monge was sent twice to Italy, between 1796 and 1798, following the Napoleonic Army. In addition to positions of political nature - certainly not of a secondary importance -, he was charged, along with other collaborators, to direct the requisitions of art works, manuscripts and other collections of a certain scientific value, and even of first printed editions. 

[2] "The letters of Monge, here presented in the Italian translation, are taken from the existing copies in the Bibliothèque Municipale of Saintes (Ms. 78) ... The correspondence has been divided into three groups. The first two ones gather the letters sent by Monge to Catherine Huart [note of the editor: his fiancé, first and then his wife from June 12, 1797] during the missions he played in Italy; in the third group are the letters addressed to Bonaparte, the Directory, and various ministers of the French Republic, as well as to some family members" (pp. 51-52). There is no doubt that, for our purposes, the official letters are those of most importance. 

[3] Interestingly, at the time the book was published, the work was not reviewed in the Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore. However, in 1996, two hundred years after the beginning of the Napoleonic campaign in Italy, an article on Monge’s letters appeared, at the signature of Marco Carminati (5th May 1996); in 1999 another article was published, this time signed by Umberto Bottazzini, which dwelt on the figure the French scientist (1st May 1999). The texts of the two articles are displayed below. They are taken from Biblioteca Multimediale del Sole 24 Ore – Cd Rom Domenica 1983-2003 Vent’anni di idee (Multimedia Library of Sole 24 Ore - Cd Rom Sunday Insert - 1983-2003 Twenty years of ideas). 

SUNDAY – Theft of art 

Chariots and special oxen to empty the Vatican 

The Exodus of Italian art works to France between 1796 and 1798, as narrated in the letters by the Mathematician Gaspard Monge 

By Marco Carminati 

The Italian adventure of Gaspard Monge – a famous mathematician and inventor of descriptive geometry, as well Minister of the Navy of Napoleon - had begun in June 1796. As a member of the "Commission pour la recherche des objets des Sciences et de l'Art" Monge had crossed the Alps behind the Napoleonic armies, along with other leading representatives of scientific culture in France, like the botanists Thouin and Billardiere, the chemist Berthollet, the painters Berthelemy and Tinet, and the sculptors Moitte and Dejoux. To this group of civilians, General Bonaparte had entrusted a delicate task, of a great importance: to select and transport to France artworks, books and artefacts with a scientific interest, among those seized in the Italian cities progressively occupied by the French. The young General was very much concerned that those requisitions not be judged as a barbaric robbery; therefore, he ruled that any sampling of works was defined by the treaties and truces that he was gradually ratifying with the subjugated cities; then he wanted that the collecting operations took place as correctly as possible, through the expert hands of scientists and artists, and with the support of all possible guarantees. 

Napoleon trusted blindly Gaspard Monge. And since the General had already occupied in quick succession Milan, Modena, Parma and Bologna between May and June of 1796, the clever mathematician and his colleagues at the "Commission" were called to action. 

Monge was a methodical man: if we now know in great detail the way in which the committee was able to empty the churches of Milan and Bologna, the Sanctuary of Loreto, the Marciana Library in Venice and the Vatican Museums, we really owe it to the fussy custom of the mathematician to write - about one day every ten – a long and affectionate letter to his wife Catherine, who lived in Paris. Monge’s letters to his wife - along with other letters addressed to Napoleon himself, his ministers and directors of the museums of Paris - were published a few years ago in Italy by Sandro Cardinali e Luigi Pepe for Sellerio publishers in Palermo (Gaspard Monge, “Dall’Italia”(From Italy), Sellerio, Palermo 1993, p. 295 Italian Lire 25,000, [note of the translator: around EUR 12,-]). When this interesting volume came into the bookstores, it fell a bit into a vacuum, collecting little attention from the press (the only exception: Antonio Cederna on the weekly "Espresso"). But now that our attention is focused on these events, just two hundred years since the beginning of Napoleon's Italian campaign and of his artistic raids, it will be convenient to take up the witty and well informed letters of citizen Gaspard. 

From their reading it becomes clear that his specific task was to search for, seize and take away the best that could be found in libraries, churches and museums. Operations began with the churches of Milan, Pavia, Cremona and Bologna. The works, carefully packed and loaded on chariots specially designed by Monge, were first collected in Tortona, and from there the right moment was expected to send them to France, either by sea from Genoa to Nice, or by land bypassing the Alps at the Col di Tenda (Col de Tende). In this first phase of the mission, the work of packing happened so quickly, that Monge confessed to his wife that he could watch with sufficient time only the St. Cecilia of Raphael (Fig. 2), "a marvellous work, which I invite you to admire when it will come to Paris". 

Fig. 2) Raphael, The Ecstasy of St. Cecilia, Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale 

Until February 1797 (the date of the Treaty of Tolentino, concluded between the General and Pope Pius VI), Monge worked in north-central Italy. He visited Livorno to assess whether the Medicis’ port could be used as a basis to load works of art, and watched carefully the buffalos from Maremma, considering them particularly suitable for a "spectacular" transportat of the heavy baggage: "These animals with huge horns – he wrote to Catherine - along with a dozen camels supplied to us by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, could give a unique and majestic appearance to the convoy." 

With the capitulation of the Pope, Monge’s work focused on Rome. Her tight timetable provided for the withdrawal of 500 volumes from the Vatican Library, the requisitioning of the Greek, Arabic and Persian types of the Propaganda Fide’s typography, and especially the study of a suitable transportation system for colossal statues as the Laocoon (Fig. 3) and the Apollo Belvedere (Fig. 4). "Perhaps - he explained to his wife - we will also be granted the papal tiara, but I predict that they will deliver it in pieces, fearing that we may decide to expose it in any of our museums." 

The problems of the selection of books in the library were not particularly complex: long and very boring was however the compilation of the lists; equally, some discomfort procured him the huge number of Roman religious festivals ("pitiful farces," "comedies that offend human race", as Gaspard stigmatized them), during which the employees of the Library had a "mandatory" vacation. 

Fig. 3) Laocoon, Rome, Vatican Museums

The most numerous problems presented themselves to remove the statues and paintings of the Vatican Pinacoteca, including Raphael's Transfiguration (Fig. 5). It was necessary to build specialized chariots; it was also essential to find suitable animals and in a sufficient number for transport; and it was also necessary to start the convoys in a staggered way, without notifying the Pope and the Roman authorities, travelling at night and on secondary roads to avoid ambushes. The convoys, protected by armed troops, would have had as a goal the port of Leghorn. From there, they were deemed to be boarded to the direction of Toulon, and then, inland waterway, to come almost to Paris. Monge and the members of the Committee (which in the meantime had grown by hiring the painters Gros and Wicar, the sculptors Marin and Gaulle and even a musician, the celebrated violinist Kreutzer) had pledged to ensure the safety of loads: "We have made sure that the sculptures were packed under our eyes, each in a specially built box and equipped with partitions that - shaped according to the form of the marbles – would immobilize the most voluminous parts of the statues ... The boxes were also packed, stuffed and tied with ropes and, when placing them in the chariots, we used the trick to put them over a series of reed mats rolled up, the purpose of which is to provide some suspension." Monge goes on to explain that the wagons were built to avoid tipping and that the number of buffaloes varies depending on the weight that they have to tow (for the Laocoon, twelve were needed). For paintings on canvas, precautions were even greater: "The paintings are rolled around a cylinder of large diameter, the large first, then the small ones. Between a canvas and the other, a layer of paper sheets was added to prevent paintings to be in direct contact ... The surface of the roll does not touch the bottom of the box because it was decided to fix the latter only at the two ends of the cylinder." As if that were not enough, to avoid the pitfalls of moisture Monge arranged to make tar and to cover with oilcloth every single box. 

Many are, finally, the recommendations that Monge wrote to those at home, who were going to receive the works: he is aware that "the loss of one of these masterpieces only would be irreparable and the whole of Europe would accuse France" and therefore urges continuously to 'pay attention to avoid that anything during the journey be exposed to heat waves, and then recommends that boxes, once arrived at their destination, are immediately opened to give air to the works. Gaspard knows that above all the statues can be damaged, and then takes care of sending to Paris a few breaches of ancient marble useful to "fix" any fractures. 

In May 1798, the mission of Monge is over, "My dear General - wrote to Napoleon - I believe that tomorrow morning we will set sail ... I hurry to catch up." 

SUNDAY 

The abnormal "Journeys to Italy" of two great mathematicians in the years following the French Revolution 

The numbers for travelling 

The exile of Cauchy, Catholic and friend of Piola and Manzoni - The anticlerical Monge, sent to Bonaparte to search for works of art 

By Umberto Bottazzini 

Summer time, time to travel. To distant lands, exotic locations that promise fabulous tales when returning. Or to explore Italy – the Bel Paese - which continues being a stage of the intellectual formation of many foreigners, heirs to a tradition that was inaugurated in the eighteenth century by men of letters and science. The chronicles of those early travellers also tell us of great mathematicians, sometimes brought into our country by the changing contingencies of politics. As happened in June 1796, when following the victorious armies of Bonaparte, the Directory sent to Italy a "Commission pour la recherche des objets des Sciences et des Arts". The name did not leave many doubts. The aim was to research, catalogue and select scientific and artistic objects, to take to Paris as spoils of war. A systematic confiscation of works of art destined to enrich the museums and exhibitions in the French capital. 

Of that commission was also part Gaspard Monge. The father of modern descriptive geometry had enthusiastically joined the Revolution, had been for almost a year, between 1792 and 1793, Minister of the Navy, and then, in 1794, had given birth to the '"École Centrale des Travaux Publics," which soon had to change his name to "École Polytechnique" and become the prototype of the French Grandes écoles. 

Fig. 4) Apollo of the Belvedere, Rome, Vatican Museums

Monge entrusts the chronicle of that journey to the numerous letters to his wife, Bonaparte and the Directory, which have been translated into Italian and published by Sandro Cardinali and Luigi Pepe (Dall’Italia, 1796-1798, Sellerio, Palermo 1993 pages 296, Italian lire 25,000). He arrived in Italy through the Mont Cenis, the first goal is Pavia, where he writes, "we have gathered interesting objects for the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle. The fruit of our samples will be transported to Milan today or tomorrow; we are dealing with the means to quickly transfer to France what can transit, without difficulty, through the Mont Cenis."

On the road from Pavia to Milan there is time to refresh the patriotic spirit visiting Lodi, to see the bridge over the Adda river, the scene of the recent battle "where our brave volunteers have exhibited heroic courage." The expert eye of Monge does not escape the quality of technical and engineering accomplishments, of which he is testimony on the path. "Throughout the trip, we could see how the extraordinary cleverness of the Lombards have been able to use the rivers that descend from the Alps to irrigate and fertilise this vast plain, which otherwise would have been very similar to the arid lands of Bordeaux; the entire territory is crossed by a dense network of canals that distribute water in many different directions and at different distances. It seems that in this region people must have taken care of irrigation since immemorial time; moreover, the works are amazing. "

The admiration does not distract the commission from its purpose, following the overwhelming success in the field of general. "Along the path that goes from Milan to Bologna, we have already put together a magnificent and rich collection of paintings; all these treasures will be addressed to Tortona, where a convoy is being prepared to transport them to Paris." After the conquest of Bologna and Ferrara, at the end of June Bonaparte signed an armistice with the Pope, which provides monetary compensation to France, in addition to the delivery of works of art and manuscripts carefully chosen by the committee. The journey of Monge to Rome crosses the territories of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who observed prudent neutrality. "What most astonishes the traveller is the amazing collection of ancient and modern works of art that can be admired in Florence, both around the city and in the palaces of the prince," Monge wrote to his wife. "The Grand Duke has proven very smart in signing peace with France at the appropriate time; especially if you think that Tuscany alone would have allowed us to organize an extraordinary convoy, as important as what has just reached Tortona."

Raphael, The Transfiguration, Rome, Vatican Museums

In the letters political observations are intertwined with notes of costume. Florence, "which was the cradle of the renewal of the arts and sciences in Europe - writes Monge - has made all these miracles only when it was a small democratic republic. Since it is ruled by a single leader, it has failed to produce anything and the Florentines, all fops, spend whole days to pander to the whims of their miserable dames, to constantly carry them here and there, to bring their dogs for a walk, to collect their fans, that is to make nonsense." For the man who has gone through the climate of revolution, the judgment is lapidary and without appeal: "As far as the arts, sciences and letters, Florence exhibits only ancient monuments, while for what concerns people it does not offer anything but ruins. "

With the immunity guaranteed by the Pope, the convoy of Monge arrives in Rome without encountering obstacles. "We are not checked at any customs, we are not allowed to pay any toll and we free cross all bridges." But, once Tuscany is left Tuscany and after having skirted the Trasimeno, the scenario changes. "When we came thirty miles far from Rome, we encountered a depressing sight: uncultivated fields, uninhabited lands, completely devoid of villages and homes. We only noticed the remains of some ancient tombs, some magnificent Roman ruins and the Via Flaminia, unfortunately, frequently intersected by the road that winds currently in this desert. It is only two miles from Rome that one has the certainty to be in the vicinity of an inhabited place."

The spectacle of humanity that inhabits the city of the Popes angers the Jacobin Monge: "I am astounded when I saw in what a state of brutishness is forced to live a people ruled by a government that is founded on imposture, and that since ten centuries only survives thanks to grants provided by Christian nations." And again: "This is agonizing miserable city: its people are uneducated and unemployed, and businesses are almost non-existent. Rome survives only thanks to the merciful charity which receives from Catholic nations."

Anti-clericalism is a recurring theme in the letters, as well as the invective toward the temporal power of the Pope. Monge ignores that Bonaparte has in mind a much more conciliatory policy towards the state of the Church, and prophesied that without the help of the Catholic legations, Rome one day would be reduced to having to rely "on the money spent by the curious who come to admire the remains of the ruler of the world." Of course, the ruins are "magnificent; compared to them, however, the idiots who inhabit this city manifest strangeness equal to that which, in relation to the great pyramids of Egypt, show the poor Mohammedans, who do not even know who may have erected them. The Forum, the place where the Roman people expressed their will, the theatre of the great passions of extraordinary personalities ... is now called Campo Vaccino, obviously worthy of the name that takes place: the cattle market." In short, "Rome is nothing but a mummy, whose vital spirit is off since a long time." 

The work of the Committee prolongs itself. Monge spends his summer to classify the manuscripts in the Vatican Library and choose which ones to remove, pursuant to the Treaty of Bologna. But in September political events urge. After the insurrection of Reggio Emilia, new Jacobin republics are created a little everywhere. Called by Napoleon, Monge is distracted from his task. He founds the Cispadane Republic, moves to Ferrara and Livorno, arranges in Milan the shipment to France of collected items, follows the French army in Romagna, is an ambassador of Bonaparte in San Marino, and visits Loreto and Pesaro. The peace of Tolentino in February of 1797 obliges the Pope to pay as war compensation to the French 30 million in gold and diamonds as well as paintings, sculptures and 500 manuscripts. Again in Rome, Monge completes the task of classifying the manuscripts before reaching Venice, where a similar task awaits him at the Biblioteca Marciana. Only in October, he returns to Paris, where Napoleon entrusts him the task of transmitting to the Directory the Treaty of Campo Formio for the ratification of peace with Austria. On the following February he is again travelling to Rome, where – among the ruins of the Forum - the '"act of the sovereign people" had proclaimed the end of the temporal power of the Pope and the birth of the Republic. 

The new Roman sojourn was short lived, however. Called by Napoleon, on 26 June 1798 he embarked in Civitavecchia Monge to join the French fleet which sailed from Toulon and accompanied the Consul in the expedition to Egypt. An ardent Republican, Monge continued to see in Bonaparte the embodiment of the ideals of the Revolution and followed faithfully his political parable, from the proclamation of the Empire to the hundred days to the final defeat. 

When the Bourbons returned to power in 1816, Monge was dismissed from teaching at the École Polytechnique and expelled from the Institute ... [note of the editor: the article continues with reference to Augustin-Louis Cauchy].