The Cemetery of Saint-Privat (1881)

Alphonse de Neuville: The Cemetery of Saint-Privat, August 10, 1870

Alphonse de Neuville, like Edouard Detaille, was one of the main artists to paint episodes from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the theme recurs frequently in his prolific production. At the Salon of 1873, where he exhibited The Last Cartridges, an episode in the fighting around Sedan in September, he was a great success and was promoted to the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honour.

From then on, he produced monumental paintings of various episodes in which the French troops had distinguished themselves, participating in the idea of revenge while defending and strengthening Republican patriotism. Here he evokes the last moments in the battle in the Cemetery of Saint Privat, near Metz, on 18 August 1870, where Marshal Bazaine's army was fighting the first and second corps of the Prussian army.

After visiting the site to familiarize himself with the lie of the land, de Neuville chose a lateral view which confines the spectator in the foreground slightly below the scene of the fighting, facing the last French defenders who can be recognized by their red trousers. The soldiers, surrounded on all sides, are depicted in theatrical poses. The light filtering through the smoke in the upper part of the painting intensifies the dramatic effect. Exhibited in 1881, this painting was a further triumph for its author who was immediately promoted to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honour. [Musée d’Orsay]

Le Four a Chaux (1881)

Alphonse de Neuville: Le Four a Chaux - A Study for the Panorama of the Battle of Champigny

The Defense of Rorke's Drift (1880)

Alphonse de Neuville: The Defense of Rorke's Drift

The so-called Zulu War came at the moment of greatest British imperial presence in South Africa. Though understood differently today, in 1879 - the year of the event depicted in de Neuville's famous canvas - the violent exchange was seen in terms of Britain's rightful defense of its own colonial prestige. Rorke's Drift was a small outpost on the banks of the Buffalo River in Natal Province. A large Zulu force, having slaughtered around 900 troops and native levies at nearby Isandlhwana, set upon the eighty soldiers of the Warwickshire Regiment stationed at Rorke's Drift. The defenders managed to hold off their attackers, usually characterized as an undisciplined horde, in a bloody hand-to-hand battle of Boys' Own proportions. The subsequent awarding of eleven Victoria Crosses confirmed the heroic dimension of the skirmish, though it hardly explains the interest of a Parisian Salon painter in this quintessentially English subject. De Neuville based his pre-cinematic version of events on military reports and survivors' accounts.  [Art Gallery NSW]

Defense of Longboyau's Gate (1879)

Alphonse de Neuville: Defense of Longboyau's Gate, 

Château of Buzenval, on October 21st 1870

The Attack at Dawn (1877)

Alphonse de Neuville: The Attack at Dawn

Alphonse de Neuville served as an officer in the Auxiliary Sappers and as aide-de-camp to General Callier during the Franco-Prussian War. He closely studied locations of battles and weaponry to recreate battle scenes. The Attack at Dawn is a recreation of a Prussian assault on a French village. To the left of the painting, a bugler sounds the alarm. French troops rush from the inn, their uniforms identify them as turcus or Algerian rifleman and mobiles or members of the Garde Mobile. The mountain in the background helps to identify the location of the scene as a village near the Jura Mountains, located near the Swiss border. The paintings of de Neuville attempt to glorify France's heroic resistance rather than its military defeat. [Wikipedia]

Alphonse de Neuville (1875)

 Alphonse de Neuville: An Episode from the Franco-Russian War

  

Alphonse de Neuville: Refreshments

In the Trenches (1874)

Alphonse de Neuville: In the Trenches

Members of the Garde Mobile (French expeditionary forces) are huddled in a shallow trench during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. De Neuville has conveyed the general misery and tedium between battles that is associated with trench warfare. The artist complained that his dealer, Alphonse Goupil, wanted more flattering, less disturbing subjects and refused to pay him more than 6,000 francs, a small fee, for this painting. De Neuville entered the naval school at Lorient in 1856, where his artistic instincts began. His work focuses on war, battle scenes, and soldiers. He also illustrated "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and Guizot's "History of France" as well as others. He also studied under Eugène Delacroix. [The Walters Art Museum]

Street in an Old Town (1873)

Alphonse de Neuville: Street in an Old Town

The Last Cartridges (1873)

Alphonse de Neuville: The Last Cartridges

De Neuville showed peculiar insight into military life, but his full power was not reached until after the Franco-Prussian War. He then aimed at depicting in his works the episodes of that war, and began by representing the Bivouac before Le Bourget (1872). His fame spread rapidly, and was increased by The Last Cartridges (1873), memorializing an episode involving the Blue Division of the French marines, in which it is easy to discern the vast difference between the conventional treatment of military subjects, as practised by Horace Vernet, and that of a man who had lived the life that he painted. [Wikipedia]

Bivouac after the Battle (1872)

Alphonse de Neuville: Bivouac after the Battle of Le Bourget, 21 December 1870

The Battle of Le Bourget took place during the Franco-Prussian War.