7th HUSSARS REGIMENT FIRST EMPIRE: STRASBOURG SOLDIERS CARDBOARD FIGURINE painted in gouache by the WURTZ family, second third of the 19th century, around 1815-1848. 31156-30

7th REGIMENT OF HUSSARS FIRST EMPIRE: STRASBOURG SOLDIERS CARDBOARD FIGURINE painted by the WURTZ family, second half of the 19th century, around 1815-1848. 31156-30

Four horsemen, height from the base of the base to the eye 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 who became an antiquarian between the two World Wars. To my knowledge, no biography or articles have ever been published on this individual who is nevertheless known to collectors and frequently cited in the provenances of historical objects of great quality. Therefore, 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 tastes for military memorabilia; both drew and published their drawings in the magazine 'La Giberne' before 1914.
After the war, he set up as an antiquarian. In 1926, he lived at 108 rue de Ménilmontant (Paris 20ᵉ), far from the usual antique dealers' neighborhoods. His choice focused on the specialty that had attracted him for a long time: military curiosities. His first significant find that sparked his interest in this specialty was an officer's saber from the Consulate era, which he called his 'good luck charm' and always kept.
Being an antiquarian allowed Saint-Aubin to see and possess these cherished objects for a while. A keen connoisseur, he never made a mistake, and his clients benefited from his expertise. A passionate researcher, everything he discovered in his life was amazingly diverse. Silent and modest, he had an art and manner that left an indelible memory among the collectors who knew him.
Like most military object dealers of that time, Marcel Saint-Aubin did not have a shop. He received clients in his apartment, where few objects were displayed and only temporarily occupied space. Usually, like Paul Jean, he would fetch the objects he wanted to sell from the adjacent room and present them, often without saying anything, with a slight smile, or if the item presented was truly exceptional, he would simply say in a low voice, 'This is something special...'
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 antiques district.
His care for the objects he parted with extended to the meticulousness he applied to their packaging. 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 of 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 on sheets to multiply their number more easily.
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 manner, the cardboard soldier is made for adults and provides a guarantee of great uniformological precision, which serves as a basis for our modern documentation...
Why are the Alsatian little soldiers of reference? Because they were mostly 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 residents of Strasbourg (then a garrison town) saw a large number of troops in multicolored uniforms passing through their streets heading off to battle in Germany.
This influx of troops, which lasted more than fifteen years, inspired some to 'capture' these handsome soldiers on the spot.
Alsatian authors all agree on citing Benjamin Zix (1772-1811) as the genre's precursor. Preceding Léopold Beyer, the German Geisler, or the Austrian Klein, Alsatian Zix provides a very realistic representation of the soldiers of the time, as he himself, a combatant, roamed the battlefields more often armed with a pencil than a rifle. He became an Army Officer illustrator.
From the peace of 1815 to the war of 1914, Strasbourg artists continued this need to draw 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 was also a thoroughfare for countless troops of the Revolution and the Grande Armée heading to campaigns in the Rhineland.
Of all these artists, and for this period, the three most renowned are: Thiébaut Borerst (incorrectly spelled Boersch) (1782-1824), a miller 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), who painted his soldiers from 1817 (when he was 15) and continued for 55 years. His collection is preserved at the Compiègne Museum, and his style is more naive. Wurtz, to whom we dedicate a specific paragraph. Paul Schmidt, whose each figurine is annotated on the back with the soldier's name as “sketched,” this collection is preserved at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris and represents the National Guard soldiers of Strasbourg, among others.
Other artists 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 spelled in German):
Wurtz began 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 started making his figurines around 1825 with the help of his son and then his father-in-law Pees. The son continued the production, completing his "Napoleonic" collection under the Second Republic (1850), with some figurines presented bearing the date 1848 on the cardboard's back. These figurines are of very high quality. Edward Ryan, the author of "Paper Soldiers: The Illustrated History of Printed Paper Armies of the 18th, 19th & 20th Centuries" (Golden Age Editions, London 1995), writes that they are "the most accurate and comprehensive representation of Napoleonic troops." Each regiment is depicted in all ranks and types of uniforms exhaustively, which is rare in the Strasbourg soldiers' representations.
Son of Mr. Wurtz, Frédéric Wurtz likely supplemented the uniforms he did not personally observe through other documentary sources.
Following 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. After his death in 1898, a significant portion 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 senior military doctor; they were exhibited there in 1938 and have remained since.
The specialist expert Christian Blondieau judges Wurtz's style to be comparable to that of Nicollet and Kratz.