Imperial Guard Horse Grenadiers of the First Empire: Soldiers from Strasbourg. Cardboard figurine painted in gouache by the Wurtz family, second half of the 19th century, circa 1815-1848. 31156-11.

IMPERIAL GUARD GRENADIERS ON HORSEBACK FIRST EMPIRE: STRASBOURG SOLDIERS CARDBOARD FIGURE HAND-PAINTED BY THE WURTZ FAMILY, SECOND THIRD OF THE 19TH CENTURY, CIRCA 1815-1848. 31156-11

Four riders, H from the bottom of the base to eye level 10.5 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 wars, to my knowledge no biography or article has ever been published about this individual, who is nevertheless well-known among collectors and frequently cited in the provenance of historical objects of great quality. That is why I will open my archives to shed more light on 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 passion 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), quite 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 led him to this specialty came from his first find: an officer's saber from the Consulate era, his first beautiful sword; he called it his 'good luck charm' and always kept it.
The profession of antiquarian allowed Saint-Aubin to see and possess these highly appreciated objects for a while. A true connoisseur, he never made mistakes, and his clients benefited from his knowledge. A passionate researcher, everything he discovered in his life was astonishingly diverse. Silent and modest, he had a way and manner that left an enduring memory among the enthusiasts who knew him.
Like most military object merchants of that time, Marcel Saint-Aubin had no store. He received visitors in his apartment, where few objects were displayed and only occupied temporary spaces. Generally, like Paul Jean, he would fetch the items 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 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 acquired, at 16 rue Henri Pape, in the 13th arrondissement, once again, far from the antiquarians' district.
His love for the objects he parted with was evident even in the care he took in packaging them. Very handy 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 a unanimous memory of a man with great moral values."

HISTORICAL:
The Strasbourg soldiers are cardboard figurines, "flat" soldiers, cut from rigid cardboard. In most cases, these soldiers are drawn and then printed on sheets to more easily multiply their numbers.
Christian Blondieau in his work "Little Soldiers of Lead, Tin, Paper, Cardboard... 1765-1965 - The Collector's Guide", published by Le Képi Rouge Paris 1996, specifies about cardboard soldiers:
"[...] unlike paper soldiers intended more for young people, often colored in a clumsy way, the cardboard soldier is designed for adults and guarantees a high level of uniformological precision, which serves as the basis for our modern documentation...
Why do the Alsatian toy soldiers 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 in colorful uniforms passing through their streets, heading to battle in Germany.
This influx of troops, lasting over fifteen years, inspired some to capture these magnificent military figures in the moment.
Alsatian authors agree in citing Benjamin Zix (1772-1811) as the precursor of this genre. Leading ahead of Léopold Beyer, the German Geisler, or the Austrian Klein, Alsatian Zix provides a very realistic view of the soldiers of the time, as a combatant himself, he wandered battlefields armed more often with a pencil than a rifle. He became an Army Officer Artist.
From the peace of 1815 to the war of 1914, Strasbourg artists passed on this need to sketch 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 also witnessed countless troops of the Revolution and the Grand Army passing through on their way to 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 flour miller who began drawing around 1800, the nephew of the painter Benjamin Zix; his collection was auctioned off in Angers on March 10, 1971, and his style is probably the most refined that we know of. Eugène Nicollet (1802-1872), who painted his soldiers as early as 1817 (at the age of 15) and continued for 55 years; his collection is preserved in the Museum of Compiègne, and his style is more naive. Wurtz, to whom we dedicate a specific paragraph. Paul Schmidt, whose each figurine is labeled on the back with the name of the soldier as "sketched"; this collection is kept at the Army Museum in Paris and notably represents the soldiers of the National Guard of Strasbourg among others.
Other artists also worked in a similar way: Frédérik Schmidt (born 1796). We can also mention Édouard Kratz (1803-1885), Schmidt's son (born in 1824), Théodore Carl (born in 1837)...

WURTZ-PEEZ COLLECTION (German spelling Würtz):
Wurtz began his documentation during the First Empire thanks to his friend J.P. Lévêque, a former surgeon of the grand army who had gathered significant information on Napoleon's armies. He started making his figurines as early as 1825 with the help of his son and then Pees, his father-in-law. The production continued under his son, who completed his collection with the help of his father-in-law, Mr. Pees, in a "Napoleonic" style during the Second Republic (1850); some of the figurines we present bear the date 1848 on the back of the cardboard. These figurines are of very high quality. Author 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 accurate and comprehensive representation of Napoleonic troops." Each regiment is depicted in all grades and types of uniforms exhaustively, which is rare in representations of Strasbourg soldiers.
The son of Mr. Wurtz, Frédéric Wurtz, likely completed the uniforms he hadn't observed himself from other documentary sources. Following the fall of the Second Empire, Frédéric Wurtz refused to stay in Strasbourg under Prussian occupation and moved to Paris, boulevard de Clichy, where he ran a pharmacy. After his passing in 1898, a significant portion of his collection, nearly 16,000 figurines, was donated to the Army Museum on October 1, 1899, by his widow and his son, a senior physician; they were exhibited in 1938 and have remained there since. Expert Christian Blondieau considers Wurtz's style comparable to that of Nicollet and Kratz.