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Harry Ransom Center

This scene shows French military leader Napoleon in exile on the island of St Helena. He had been sent there after being defeated by a British-led army in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon died in St Helena in 1821. This work was painted in the year his ashes were returned to France. The image does not appear to celebrate or condemn Napoleon, but instead suggests the pointlessness of war. The isolated uniformed body appears out of place in its surroundings. The red background invokes the trauma of battle. In verses attached to the canvas, Turner refers to the sunset as a ‘sea of blood’.

Primary Source: Notes for a Napoleonic Scandal

September 29, 2021 by Julia Stryker

In 1815, William Warden was surgeon of HMS Northumberland as it transported Napoleon Bonaparte to his second (and hopefully final) exile. Well aware that folks back home—or even, possibly, history itself—would be interested, Warden took notes in an old surgeon’s log.

Crimean World Heritage site, Chersonesos.

Ancient City on the Brink

April 19, 2014 by David Ochsner

Can a Crimean World Heritage Site Survive the Region’s Latest Political Unrest? Last June Professor Joseph Carter had reason to celebrate. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had named the ancient city of Chersonesos—a place where he had dedicated more than two decades of his career—a World Heritage Site. It’s not easy […]

woman drinking coffee on her apartment stairs near a busy New York street

The Secret Life of Magnum Photographs

February 12, 2014 by Jessica Sinn

American studies professor offers an inside look at some of the world’s most iconic images.

Ariel view of Chersonesos with the newly renovated St. Volodymyr's Church in 2001. Photo by Christopher Williams.

UT Classical Archaeology Research Leads to UNESCO World Heritage Site Designation

October 29, 2013 by David Ochsner

After two decades of research led by a classical archaeology professor at The University of Texas at Austin, an ancient Greek settlement in southern Ukraine was granted World Heritage status by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). A port city founded by Greeks in the fifth century B.C., Chersonesos is the site […]

drawing of bug

Fate of the Book

November 27, 2012 by David Ochsner

Public forum series examines the uncertain future of the book The Harry Ransom Center’s Gutenberg Bible is among the world’s most valuable books. Printed more than 550 years ago, it is one of only 21 complete copies known to exist. To discover an intact copy today would be a rare find, but not as rare […]

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