8th REGIMENT OF HUSSARS OF THE FIRST EMPIRE: SOLDIERS OF STRASBOURG CARDBOARD FIGURE PAINTED IN GOUACHE by the WURTZ family, second half of the 19th century, around 1815-1848. 31156-31

8th REGIMENT OF HUSSARS FIRST EMPIRE: SOLDIERS OF STRASBOURG CARDBOARD FIGURE painted by the WURTZ family, second half of the 19th century, around 1815-1848. 31156-31

Two cavalrymen, 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, was 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. 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 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 20th), far from the favored 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 period, his first beautiful sword; he called it his 'lucky charm' and always kept it.
The profession of an antiquarian allowed Saint-Aubin to see and possess these much-appreciated objects for a while. A fine connoisseur, he never made mistakes, and his clients benefited from his expertise. A passionate researcher, everything he discovered in his life was amazingly varied. Silent and modest, he had an art and a manner that left an indelible memory among the collectors who knew him.
Like most military object merchants of that time, Marcel Saint-Aubin did not have a store. He received visitors in his apartment, where few objects were found and they only occupied a temporary space. Generally, like Paul Jean, he would fetch the items he wanted to sell from the neighboring room and would often present them without saying anything, with a slight smile, or if the item 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 acquired, 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 packaging them. Very handy with his hands, he perfectly protected even the most modest pieces.
Marcel Saint-Aubin passed away at the age of 83, taking with him the esteem of all who knew him, leaving behind a lasting 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 on 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 youth, often colored clumsily, the cardboard soldier is made for adults and guarantees great uniformological accuracy, which serves as the basis for our modern documentation...
Why are the little soldiers from Alsace so important? Because they were, for the most part, created by eyewitnesses of the time or their descendants, and were often contemporaneous with the era 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 with colorful uniforms parading through their city as they set off to fight in Germany.
This influx of troops, which lasted for over fifteen years, gave some the idea of capturing these beautiful soldiers in action.
Alsatian authors agree in citing Benjamin Zix (1772-1811) as the precursor of the genre. Leading Léopold Beyer, the German Geisler or the Austrian Klein, the Alsatian Zix gives us a very realistic view of the soldiers of that time, having been a combatant himself, he wandered the battlefields armed more often with a pencil than a rifle. He became an army officer draftsman.
From the peace of 1815 to the war of 1914, Strasbourg artists continued this need to draw and paint from generation to generation[...] ".
Under the First Empire, Strasbourg had about 30,000 inhabitants, with a permanent garrison of between 6,000 and 10,000 soldiers, but this city was also the obligatory passage for countless troops of the Revolution and the Grand Army heading for campaigns across the Rhine.
Among all these artists, and for this period, the three most well-known are: Thiébaut Borerst (incorrectly spelled Boersch) (1782-1824), a baker who began drawing around 1800, a nephew of the painter Benjamin Zix, his collection was auctioned 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 from 1817 (he was 15 years old) and continued for 55 years, his collection is preserved at the Museum of Compiègne, 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 name of the soldier thus "sketched," this collection is preserved at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris and has the characteristic of representing 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 COLLECTION (Würtz German spelling):
Wurtz began his documentation on the First Empire thanks to his friend J.P LÉvêque, a former surgeon of the Grand Army who had gathered significant documentation on Napoleon's armies. He started making his figures as of 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, in a "Napoleonic" style under the Second Republic (1850), some of the figurines we present have the date 1848 on the back of the cardboard. These figures are of very high quality. Edward Ryan, in his book "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 troops from the First Empire.” Each regiment is represented in all ranks and types of uniforms exhaustively, which is rare in representations of Strasbourg soldiers.
Frédéric Wurtz, son of Mr. Wurtz, probably completed the uniforms he had not personally observed 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, Boulevard de Clichy, where he ran a pharmacy. After his death in 1898, the majority of his collection - nearly 16,000 figures - was donated to the Musée de l’Armée on October 1, 1899, by his widow and his son, a medical major; they were exhibited in 1938 and have remained there since. Expert Christian Blondieau assesses Wurtz's style as comparable to that of Nicollet and Kratz.