ARTILLERY WORKER AND MUSICIAN OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD SAILOR CORPS FIRST EMPIRE: STRASBOURG SOLDIERS FIGURE OF CARDBOARD PAINTED IN GOUACHE BY THE WURTZ FAMILY, SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY, AROUND 1815-1848. 31156-7.

ARTILLERY WORKER AND MUSICIAN OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD NAVAL SAILORS FIRST EMPIRE: STRASBOURG SOLDIERS FIGURE CARDBOARD gouache painted by the Wurtz family, second half of the 19th century, around 1815-1848. 31156-7

Two pedestrians, H from the base of the base to eye level 8.5 cm.
Mounted on a wooden base.

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

PROVENANCE:
Former Wurtz-Pees collection, then Saint-Aubin, and private collection.
Mr. Marcel Saint-Aubin, a collector turned antiquarian between the two wars. To my knowledge, no biography or article has ever been published about this personality who is nevertheless known to collectors and often cited in the provenance of historical objects, often of high quality. That is why I will open my archives to provide a better understanding of 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 settled as an antiquarian. In 1926, he lived at 108 rue de Ménilmontant (Paris 20th), far from the preferred districts of antiquarians. His choice focused on the specialty that had attracted him for a long time: military curiosities. The spark that directed him towards this specialty came from his first find: an officer's saber of light cavalry from the Consulate, his first beautiful saber; he called it his 'lucky charm' and always kept it.
The profession of antiquarian allowed Saint-Aubin to see and possess these objects for a while. A fine connoisseur, he never made mistakes, and his clients benefited from his knowledge. A passionate researcher, everything he discovered in his life was astonishingly varied. Silent and modest, he had an art and a manner that left an indelible memory among the amateurs who knew him.
Like most dealers in military items 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. Usually, like Paul Jean, he would fetch the items he wanted to sell from the neighboring room and would present them often without saying anything, with a slight smile, or if the item presented was truly exceptional, he would simply say without raising his voice, 'It's top-notch ...'.
In June 1940, during the occupation, he left for Guingamp. He returned to Paris and resettled at the end of 1951 in the house he had purchased, 16 rue Henri Pape, in the 13th arrondissement, once again, far from the district of antiquarians.
His love for the objects from which he parted was also reflected in the care he took in packaging them. 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 those who knew him, leaving behind the memory of a man with great moral values."

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
The Strasbourg soldiers are cardboard figurines, 'flat' soldiers, cut from rigid cardboard. In most cases, these soldiers are drawn and then printed in sheets to easily multiply their numbers.
Christian Blondieau, in his book "Little Soldiers of Lead, Tin, Paper, Cardboard ... 1765-1965 - The Collector's Guide," Editions Le Képi Rouge Paris 1996, specifies for cardboard soldiers:
"[...] unlike paper soldiers intended more for youth, often colored in a clumsy way, the cardboard soldier is made for adults and guarantees great uniformological precision, which will serve as the basis for our modern documentation...
Why do the little soldiers from Alsace stand out? Because they were often created by eyewitnesses of the time or their descendants, and are often contemporary to the era they represent.
During the wars of the Revolution and the Empire, the inhabitants of Strasbourg (then a garrison city) saw a large number of soldiers with colorful uniforms passing through their streets, heading to fight in Germany.
This influx of troops, which lasted more than fifteen years, gave some the idea to 'capture' these beautiful soldiers on the spot.
Alsatian authors agree to cite Benjamin Zix (1772-1811) as the precursor of the genre. Anticipating Léopold Beyer, the German Geisler, or the Austrian Klein, the Alsatian Zix provides a very realistic aspect of the soldiers of the time, as he was himself a combatant, traversing battlefields more often armed with a pencil than a rifle. He became a Military Officer draftsman.
From the peace of 1815 to the 1914 war, Strasbourg artists continued from generation to generation this need to draw and paint[...]".
During the First Empire, Strasbourg had approximately 30,000 inhabitants, with a permanent garrison between 6,000 and 10,000 soldiers. This city was also the unavoidable passage of countless troops of the Revolution and the Grand Army heading for campaigns beyond the Rhine.
Among all these artists, and for this period, the three most well-known are: Thiébaut Borerst (incorrectly spelled Boersch) (1782-1824), a miller who started drawing around 1800, nephew of the painter Benjamin Zix, his collection was auctioned in Angers on March 10, 1971, likely having the most sophisticated style we know. Eugène Nicollet (1802-1872), who painted his soldiers from 1817 (he was 15 years old) for 55 years, his collection is kept at the Museum of Compiègne, and has a more naive style. Wurtz, to whom we dedicate a specific paragraph. Paul Schmidt, whose each figurine is annotated with the soldier's name at the back, this collection is kept at the Army Museum in Paris and specifically represents the soldiers of the National Guard of Strasbourg, among others.
Other artists also worked in a similar manner: Frédérik Schmidt (born in 1796). But we can also mention Édouard Kratz (1803-1885), Schmidt's son (born in 1824), Théodore Carl (born in 1837)...

WURTZ-PEEZ COLLECTION (Würtz German spelling):
Wurtz started his documentation during the First Empire thanks to his friend J.P LÉvêque, a former surgeon of the Grand Army who had gathered significant documentation on Napoleon's armies. He began making his figurines in 1825 with the help of his son and then Pees, his father-in-law. The production was continued by the son, who completed his collection with the help of his father-in-law Mr. Pees 'Napoleonic' under the Second Republic (1850), some of the figurines we present have the date 1848 on the back of the cardboard. These figurines are of very high quality. Edward Ryan, in his book "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 the troops of the First Empire." Each regiment is represented in all grades and types of uniforms exhaustively, which is rare in the representations of Strasbourg soldiers.
Mr. Wurtz's son, Frédéric Wurtz, likely completed the uniforms he did not observe himself through other documentary sources.
At the fall of the Second Empire, Frédéric Wurtz refused to remain in Strasbourg under Prussian occupation and moved to Paris on Boulevard de Clichy, where he ran a pharmacy. Following his death in 1898, most of his collection - almost 16,000 figurines - was donated to the Army Museum on October 1, 1899, by his widow and his son, a medical officer; they were exhibited in 1938 and have remained there since. The specialist expert Christian Blondieau judges Wurtz's style to be comparable to that of Nicollet and Kratz.