IMPÉRIAL GUARD ARTILLERY TRAIN FIRST EMPIRE: SOLDIERS FROM STRASBOURG CARDBOARD FIGURE PAINTED IN GOUACHE BY THE WURTZ FAMILY, SECOND THIRD OF THE 19TH CENTURY, AROUND 1815-1848. 31156-16

TRAIN OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD CREWS FIRST FRENCH EMPIRE: STRASBOURG SOLDIERS FIGURE MADE OF PAINTED CARDBOARD gouached by the WURTZ family, second third of the 19th century, around 1815-1848. 31156-16

Two riders, H from the bottom of the stand to eye level 10.5 cm.
Glued on a wooden stand.

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 personality, who is nevertheless known among collectors and is often cited in the provenance of historical objects, often of great quality. That 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 taste for military memorabilia; both drew and published their drawings in the magazine 'La Giberne' before 1914.
After the war, he established himself as an antiquarian. In 1926, he lived at 108 rue de Ménilmontant (Paris 20th), far outside the preferred neighborhoods of antique dealers. His choice focused on the specialty that had attracted him for a long time: military curiosity. The spark that guided him towards this specialty came from his first find: an officer's saber of light cavalry from the Consulate, 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 knowledgeable expert, he never made mistakes, and his clients benefited from his expertise. 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 enduring memory among the enthusiasts who knew him.
Like most dealers in military items of that time, Marcel Saint-Aubin did not have a shop. He received clients 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 adjoining room and would present them often without saying a word, with a slight smile, or if the presented item 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, 16 rue Henri Pape, in the 13th arrondissement, once again, far from the antique dealers' district.
His love for the items from which he parted was also reflected in the care he took in packaging them. Very skillful 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 the unanimous memory of a man with great moral values."

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
The Strasbourg soldiers are cardboard figurines, "flat" soldiers, cut from stiff cardboard. In most cases, these soldiers are drawn and then printed in sheets to easily increase their number. 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 children, often colored awkwardly, 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 of Alsace stand out? Because they were in most cases made 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 fight in Germany.
This influx of troops, which lasted for over fifteen years, inspired some to 'capture' these beautiful soldiers on the spot.
Alsace authors agree in citing Benjamin Zix (1772-1811) as the pioneer of this genre. Outdoing Léopold Beyer, the German Geisler, or the Austrian Klein, the Alsatian Zix gives us a very realistic aspect of the soldiers of the time, as he himself, a combatant, roamed the battlefields more often armed with a pencil than with a rifle. He became an Army Officer illustrator.
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 around 30,000 inhabitants, with a permanent garrison of between 6,000 and 10,000 soldiers. However, this city also served as the gateway for innumerable troops from the Revolution and the Grande Armée heading for campaigns across the Rhine.
Among all these artists, and for this period, the three most renowned are: Thiébaut Borerst (mistakenly 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, and his style is probably the most refined we know. Eugène Nicollet (1802-1872), who painted his soldiers from 1817 (he was 15 years old) and did so for 55 years, his collection is preserved at the Museum of Compiègne, and his style is more naive. Wurtz, to whom we devote a specific paragraph. Paul Schmidt, whose each figurine is annotated on the back with the name of the soldier thus "sketched", this collection preserved at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris 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 (German spelling Würtz) COLLECTION:
Wurtz began his documentation under the First Empire thanks to his friend J.P LÉvêque, a former surgeon of the Grand Army who had gathered extensive documentation on Napoleon's armies. He started making his figurines in 1825 with the help of his son and then Pees, his father-in-law. The production was continued by his son, who completed his collection with the help of his father-in-law Mr. Pees during the Second Republic (1850), and some of the figurines presented have 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 complete 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 the Strasbourg soldiers.
Mr. Wurtz's son, Frédéric Wurtz, likely completed the uniforms he himself did not observe from other documentary sources.
Following the fall of the Second Empire, Frédéric Wurtz refused to remain in Strasbourg under Prussian occupation and moved to Paris, where he ran a pharmacy on boulevard de Clichy. After his death in 1898, most of his collection - almost 16,000 figurines - was donated to the Musée de l'Armée on October 1, 1899, by his widow and his son, a senior medical officer; they were exhibited there in 1938 and have remained there since.
The specialist expert Christian Blondieau judges Wurtz's style comparable to that of Nicollet and Kratz.