In 1806, Napoléon ordered the construction of two arches to honour the victories of his armies in Paris (which already had two: those of the Porte Saint-Denis and Porte Saint-Martin, built to celebrate the victories of Louis XIV): the first of these was the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, at the entrance to the courtyard of the Palace of the Tuileries, completed in 1809, the other Napoleon intended for the Place de la Bastille. Ultimately, the Place de l’Etoile was chosen, for a monument designed by the architect Jean-François Chagrin. Incomplete in 1814, the site was abandoned until 1824, this time to celebrate the Spanish Campaign led by the Duke of Angoulême. After the July Revolution, Louis-Philippe, anxious to reconcile the French, proposed a return to the original theme, expanded to include all the victories of French armies from 1792 through 1815. The Arch of Triumph was finally inaugurated in 1836.
The arch was far from complete at the time of Napoleon’s marriage to Marie-Louise in 1810: indeed, the piers were barely three metres high, so the architect Chalgrin was charged with building a full-scale model in wood and canvas, decorated with trompe-l’œil reliefs. Prints from this period representing the Arch of Triumph depict a mere simulacrum!
Did you know that the King of the French, Louis-Philippe, is depicted twice on the Arch of Triumph? He appears in the bas-relief of the Battle of Jemmapes (1792) where, as a young lieutenant general, he contributed to the victory of the Republican armies against Austria. He was at that time Duke of Chartres. And, he is also to be found in the frieze of figures that runs around the top of the monument.
After the revolution of February 1848 which deposed Louis-Philippe, various republican factions shared power until the elections of 23 April, which removed the socialist and revolutionary deputies from the Chamber of Deputies. Balzac describes the principal members of the provisional government two days before the elections, when they joined the patriotic parades at the Place de l’Etoile. First wanted by Napoleon, continued under the Restoration and completed by Louis-Philippe, the Arch of Triumph at the Etoile has truly become a symbol of the nation.
‘…Can you imagine, they have been distributing new flags to the Garde Nationale troops and to the regiments of the army and since 7 o’clock this morning until 8.30 in the evening when I went to bed, there were canons firing constantly, gunshots, patriotic songs and parades of soldiers. Just try to work with canons in Beaujon! You see those toads there under the Arch of Triumph at the Etoile? Oh, if Napoleon had known that lawyers like Crémieux, Ledru-Rollin, Marie and Bethmont were profaning this great monument with their robes to give flags to the troops, would he have even commissioned it?’
Letter from Balzac to Mme Hanska, 21 April 1848