CAVALRY HUSSARS OF THE FIRST FRENCH EMPIRE: SOLDIERS FROM STRASBOURG CARDBOARD FIGURINE GOUACHE PAINTED BY THE WURTZ FAMILY, SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY, AROUND 1815-1848. 31156-22.

HORSE CHASSEURS FIRST EMPIRE: SOLDIERS OF STRASBOURG CARDBOARD FIGURINE GOUACHE PAINTED BY THE WURTZ FAMILY, SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY, CIRCA 1815-1848. 31156-22

Three cavalrymen, height from the base 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.
Monsieur Marcel Saint-Aubin, a collector who became an antique dealer 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 frequently cited in the provenance of historical objects of high quality. This is why I will open my archives to shed 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 interests in military memorabilia; both drew and published their drawings in the magazine 'La Giberne' before 1914.
After the war, he set up as an antique dealer. In 1926, he lived at 108 rue de Ménilmontant (Paris 20ᵉ), far from the preferred areas of antique dealers. 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, his first beautiful saber; he called it his 'lucky charm' and always kept it.
The profession of an antique dealer allowed Saint-Aubin to see and possess these objects for some time. A discerning connoisseur, he never made a mistake, and his clients benefited from his knowledge. A passionate researcher, everything he discovered in his life was remarkably diverse. Silent and modest, he had an art and a manner that left an indelible memory among the enthusiasts who knew him.
Like most dealers of military items of that time, Marcel Saint-Aubin did not have a shop. He received clients in his apartment, where few objects were present, and they occupied only temporary space. Generally, like Paul Jean, he would fetch the objects he wanted to sell from the next room and would often present them without saying anything, with a slight smile, or if the presented object was truly exceptional, he would simply say without raising his voice, 'It's top-notch…'.
In June 1940, during the occupation, he moved to Guingamp. He returned to Paris and resettled at the end of 1951, in the house he had purchased at 16 rue Henri Pape, in the 13th arrondissement, once again, far from the antique dealers district.
His love for the objects he parted with was evident even in the care he took in their packaging. Very skillful 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 with 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 on sheets to easily multiply their number.
Christian Blondieau 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 - The Collector's Guide), Editions Le Képi Rouge, Paris 1996, specifies about cardboard soldiers:
"[...] unlike paper soldiers intended more for youth, often colored in a clumsy manner, the cardboard soldier is made for adults and guarantees a high level of uniformological precision, which serves as a basis for our modern documentation… Why do the small soldiers from Alsace stand out? Because they were created 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 (a garrison city at the time) saw a large number of soldiers with colorful uniforms passing through their streets going to fight in Germany.
This influx of troops, which lasted for more than fifteen years, inspired some to capture these splendid soldiers in action. Alsatian authors generally cite Benjamin Zix (1772-1811) as the genre's precursor. Preceding Léopold Beyer, the German Geisler, or the Austrian Klein, the Alsatian Zix provides a very realistic view of the soldiers of the time, as a combatant himself, he traversed battlefields more often armed with a pencil than with a rifle. He became an Army Officer drawer.
From the peace of 1815 to the war of 1914, Strasbourg artists continued this need to draw and paint from generation to generation..."
In the Napoleonic era, Strasbourg had approximately 30,000 inhabitants, with a permanent garrison of between 6,000 and 10,000 soldiers, but the city also served as the passage for countless troops of the Revolution and the Grand Army heading to campaigns beyond the Rhine.
Of all these artists during this period, the three most well-known are: Thiébaut Borerst (mistakenly spelled Boersch) (1782-1824), a baker who began 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) started painting his soldiers in 1817 (at the age of 15) and continued for 55 years, his collection is preserved in the Musée de Compiègne, and his style is more naïve. Wurtz, whom we dedicate a specific paragraph to. Paul Schmidt, whose each figurine is annotated on the back with the soldier's name as depicted, this collection is kept at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris and is known for representing the soldiers of the National Guard of Strasbourg, among others.
Other artists also worked in a similar fashion: Frédérik Schmidt (born 1796). Additionally, one can mention Édouard Kratz (1803-1885), Schmidt's son (born in 1824), Théodore Carl (born in 1837)...

WURTZ-PEEZ COLLECTION (German spelling Würtz):
Wurtz started his documentation under the First Empire thanks to his friend J.P LÉvêque, a former surgeon of the Grande Armée 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 son continued the production and completed his collection with the help of his father-in-law, Mr. Pees, with a Napoleonic focus under the Second Republic (1850); some of the figurines we present have the date 1848 at 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 precise and comprehensive representation of the troops of the First Empire." 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 did not observe himself from other documentary sources.
Upon the fall of the Second Empire, Frédéric Wurtz refused to remain in Strasbourg under the Prussian occupation and moved to Paris on Boulevard de Clichy, where he ran a pharmacy. Following his death in 1898, most of his collection - nearly 16,000 figurines - was donated to the Musée de l’Armée 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 compares Wurtz's style to that of Nicollet and Kratz.