DUTCH FOOT GRENADIERS OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD FIRST EMPIRE: SOLDIERS FROM STRASBOURG CARDBOARD FIGURINE GOUACHED BY THE WURTZ FAMILY, SECOND THIRD OF THE 19TH CENTURY, AROUND 1815-1848.31156-4

INFANTRY GRENADIERS OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD OF THE FIRST EMPIRE HOLLAND: STRASBOURG SOLDIERS CARDBOARD FIGURINE gouache-painted by the WURTZ family, second half of the 19th century, circa 1815-1848. Item number 31156-4

Two foot soldiers, height from the bottom of the base to the eyes 8.5 cm. Mounted on a wooden base.

France.
First half of the 19th century.
Good condition.

PROVENANCE:
Former Wurtz-Peés collection, then Saint-Aubin, and private collection.
Mr. Marcel Saint-Aubin, was a collector turned antiquarian between the two world wars. To my knowledge, no biography or article has ever been published about this individual, who is nevertheless known to collectors and is often cited in the provenance of historical items of great quality. That is why I will open my archives to better acquaint you with this great connoisseur:
"Mobilized during the First World War along with his brother in the infantry, the latter was killed at Verdun. Both shared the same taste for military memorabilia; they both drew and published their drawings in the magazine 'La Giberne' before 1914.
After the war, he set himself up as an antiquarian. In 1926, he lived at 108 rue de Ménilmontant (Paris 20th arrondissement), far from the preferred neighborhoods of antiquarians. His choice focused on the specialty that had attracted him for a long time: military curiosities. The spark that led him to this specialty came from his first find: a Consulate light cavalry officer's saber, his first beautiful saber; he called it his 'good luck charm' and always kept it.
The profession of antiquarian allowed Saint-Aubin to see and possess these cherished objects for a while. A discerning expert, he never made mistakes, and his clients benefited from his knowledge. A passionate researcher, everything he discovered in his life was surprisingly varied. Silent and modest, he had an art and a manner that left an indelible impression on the connoisseurs who knew him.
Like most military object dealers of that time, Marcel Saint-Aubin did not have a store. He received clients in his apartment, where few objects were found, and they only occupied a temporary place. Typically, like Paul Jean, he would fetch the objects he wanted to sell from the adjacent room and present them mostly without saying anything, with a slight smile, or if the item presented was truly exceptional, he would simply say in a nonchalant manner, 'It's excellent stuff...'.
In June 1940, during the occupation, he left for Guingamp. He returned to Paris, where he resettled at the end of 1951, in the house he had acquired, 16 rue Henri Pape, in the 13th arrondissement, once again, far from the antique dealer neighborhoods.
His love for the items he parted with even extended to the care he took in their packaging. Very skilled with his hands, he perfectly protected even the most modest piece.
Marcel Saint-Aubin died at the age of 83, taking with him the esteem of all who knew him, leaving behind a unanimous memory of a man with great moral values."

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
The Strasbourg soldiers are cardboard figurines, "flat" soldiers, cut out of rigid cardboard. In most cases, these soldiers are drawn and then printed on sheets to easily multiply their number.
In his work "Petits soldats de plomb, d'étain, de papier, de carton ... 1765-1965 - Le guide du collectionneur" (Little Soldiers of Lead, Tin, Paper, Cardboard... 1765-1965 – A Collector's Guide), published by Le Képi Rouge Paris in 1996, Christian Blondieau specifies about cardboard soldiers:
"[...] unlike paper soldiers intended more for youth, often colored in a clumsy manner, the cardboard soldier is made for the adult and provides the guarantee of great uniform accuracy, which serves as the basis for our modern documentation...
Why do the little soldiers from Alsace hold such significance? Because they were mostly created by eyewitnesses of the time or their descendants, and are often contemporary to the period they represent.
During the wars of the Revolution and the Empire, the inhabitants of Strasbourg (a garrison town at the time) saw a large number of soldiers with colorful uniforms passing through the streets of their city heading to fight in Germany.
This influx of troops, which lasted for over fifteen years, gave some the idea to sketch these handsome soldiers in a lifelike way.
Alsatian authors all agree to name Benjamin Zix (1772-1811) as the genre's precursor. Leading ahead of Léopold Beyer, the German Geisler, or the Austrian Klein, the Alsatian Zix provides a very realistic view of the soldiers of the time, as he was a combatant himself, often roaming battlefields armed more with a pencil than with a rifle. He became an Army Officer draftsman.
From the peace of 1815 to the war of 1914, Strasbourg artists continued this need to draw and paint from generation to generation [...]".
During the First Empire, Strasbourg had around 30,000 inhabitants, with a permanent garrison of between 6,000 and 10,000 soldiers. This city was also a mandatory passage for countless troops from the Revolution and the Grande Armée heading for campaigns beyond the Rhine.
Of all these artists and for this period, the three most well-known are: Thiébaut Borerst (mistakenly spelled Boersch) (1782-1824), a miller who started drawing around 1800, the nephew of the painter Benjamin Zix. His collection was auctioned off in Angers on March 10, 1971; his style is probably the most refined that we know of. Eugène Nicollet (1802-1872) began painting his soldiers in 1817 (he was 15 years old at the time) and continued for 55 years; his collection is kept at the Museum of Compiègne, his style being more naive. Wurtz, to whom we dedicate a separate paragraph. Paul Schmidt, each figurine of whom is noted on the back with the name of the soldier as he was "sketched", this collection is kept at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris and is characterized by representing the soldiers of the National Guard of Strasbourg, among others.
Other artists also worked in a similar manner: Frédérik Schmidt (born in 1796). Additionally, mention can be made of Édouard Kratz (1803-1885), Schmidt's son (born in 1824), Théodore Carl (born in 1837)...

WURTZ COLLECTION:
Wurtz began his documentation during the First Empire and started making his figurines around 1815. The production was continued by his son, who completed his collection with the help of his father-in-law Mr. Peés, specializing in the Napoleonic era, and some of the figurines presented bear the date 1848 on the back of the cardboard. These figurines are of very high quality. Edward Ryan, in his work "Paper Soldiers: The Illustrated History of Printed Paper Armies of the 18th, 19th & 20th Centuries" (Golden Age Editions, London 1995), writes, "the most precise and comprehensive representation of troops from the First Empire." Each regiment is represented in all ranks and types of uniforms in an exhaustive manner, a rarity in the representations of Strasbourg soldiers.
Upon the fall of the Second Empire, the son of Mr. Wurtz refused to stay in Strasbourg under Prussian occupation and moved to Paris, in the neighborhood of Porte de Clichy, where he ran a pharmacy. Following his death in 1899, most of his collection—nearly 19,000 figurines from his ancestor—was donated to the Museum of the Army on October 1 of the same year; they were exhibited in 1938 and have remained there since. The expert specialist Christian Blondieau judges Wurtz's style to be comparable to that of Nicollet and Kratz.