CARABINIERS FIRST EMPIRE : SOLDIERS FROM STRASBOURG CARDBOARD FIGURINE painted in gouache by the WURTZ family, second third of the 19th century, around 1815-1848. 31156-10

CARABINIERS OF THE FIRST EMPIRE: STRASBOURG SOLDIERS CARDBOARD FIGURINE gouache painted by the Wurtz family, second third of the 19th century, circa 1815-1848. 31156-10

Two riders, total height from the base to the eyes 10.5 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, a collector turned antiquarian between the two World Wars. To my knowledge, no biography or article has ever been published about this personality, who is nevertheless known to collectors and often mentioned in the provenance of historical objects of great quality. This is why I will open my archives to better introduce 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 tastes for military memorabilia; 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 outside the preferred areas 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: 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 cherished objects for a while. A keen 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 objects of that time, Marcel Saint-Aubin did not have a shop. He received visitors in his apartment, where few objects were found, and they only occupied a temporary place. Generally, 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 in a soft tone 'It's a gem ...'.
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 acquired at 16 rue Henri Pape, in the 13th arrondissement, once again, very far from the antique district.
His love for the objects he parted with was evident in the care he took in their packaging. Very skilled with his hands, he perfectly protected even the most modest piece.
Marcel Saint-Aubin passed away at the age of 83, taking with him the esteem of all who knew him, leaving behind the memory of a man of great moral values."

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
The soldiers of Strasbourg are cardboard figurines, "flat" soldiers, cut from rigid cardboard. In most cases, these soldiers are drawn and then printed in sheets to multiply their numbers more easily.
Christian Blondieau in his work "Petits soldats de plomb, d'étain, de papier, de carton ... 1765-1965 - Le guide du collectionneur" Editions Le Képi Rouge Paris 1996, specifies for cardboard soldiers:
"[...] unlike paper soldiers intended more for young people, often colored in a clumsy way, the cardboard soldier is made for adults and guarantees great uniform accuracy, serving as a basis for our modern documentation... Why are the little soldiers of Alsace referenced? Because they were made in most cases 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 town) saw a large number of soldiers with colorful uniforms passing through their city heading to Germany. This influx of troops, which lasted for more than fifteen years, gave some the idea to capture these beautiful soldiers live.
Alsatian authors agree to cite Benjamin Zix (1772-1811) as the precursor of the genre. Ahead of Léopold Beyer, the German Geisler, or the Austrian Klein, Alsatian Zix gives us a very realistic aspect of the soldiers of the time, as he fought himself, often roaming the battlefields armed with a pencil rather than a rifle. He became a drawing officer in the Army.
From the peace of 1815 to the war of 1914, Strasbourg artists continued from generation to generation this need to draw and paint[...]".
During the First Empire, Strasbourg had about 30,000 inhabitants, with a permanent garrison of between 6,000 and 10,000 soldiers. However, this city was also the obligatory passage for countless troops of the Revolution and the Grand Army heading to the campaigns beyond the Rhine.
Of all these artists, and for this period, the three most famous are: Thiébaut Borerst (mistakenly spelled Boersch) (1782-1824), a miller who started drawing around 1800, a nephew of painter Benjamin Zix; his collection was auctioned in Angers on March 10, 1971. His style is probably the most refined that we know of. Eugène Nicollet (1802-1872), who painted his soldiers from 1817 (at the age of 15) over 55 years, his collection is preserved at the Museum of Compiègne, his style is more naive. Wurtz, whom we dedicate a specific paragraph to. Paul Schmidt, whose each figurine is annotated with the soldier's name and "sketched" on the back, this collection preserved at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris has the characteristic of representing the soldiers of the National Guard of Strasbourg, among others. Other artists worked in the same way: 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 COLLECTION (German spelling Würtz):
Wurtz began his documentation during the First Empire and started making his figurines in 1815. The production was continued by his son, who completed his collection with the help of his father-in-law Mr. Peés "Napoleonic" during the Second Republic; 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, the author, 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 the troops of the First Empire." Each regiment is represented in all ranks and types of uniforms exhaustively, which is rare in representations of Strasbourg soldiers. The son of Mr. Wurtz probably completed the uniforms he did not personally observe from other documentary sources; he left no notes or documentation. Due to the fall of the Second Empire, the son Wurtz refused to stay in Strasbourg under Prussian occupation and moved to Paris in the area of the Porte de Clichy, where he ran a pharmacy. After 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 considers Wurtz's style comparable to that of Nicollet and Kratz.