12th REGIMENT OF HUSSARS FIRST EMPIRE: STRASBOURG SOLDIERS CARDBOARD FIGURINE gouache painted by the WURTZ family, second third of the 19th century, circa 1815-1848. 31156-35

12th REGIMENT OF HUSSARS FIRST EMPIRE: STRASBOURG SOLDIERS GOUACHE ON CARDBOARD FIGURINE gouached by the WURTZ family, second half of the 19th century, circa 1815-1848. 31156-35

Two cavalrymen, H from the bottom of the base to eye level 10.5 cm.
Glued 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 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, 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 in 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 settled 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 attracted him for a long time: military curiosities. The spark that directed him towards this specialty came from his first find: an officer's saber from the Consulate era, his first beautiful sword; he called it his 'lucky charm' and always kept it.
The profession of antiquarian allowed Saint-Aubin to see and possess these greatly appreciated objects for a while. A fine connoisseur, he never made a mistake and his clients benefited from his knowledge. A passionate researcher, everything he discovered in his life was amazingly varied. Quiet and modest, he had an art and a manner that left an enduring memory among the amateurs who knew him.
Like most military object dealers of that time, Marcel Saint-Aubin did not have a store. He received people in his apartment, few objects were there and they only occupied a temporary place. Generally, like Paul Jean, he would fetch the objects he wanted to sell from the neighboring room and presented them most often without saying anything, with a slight smile, or if the object presented was truly exceptional, he simply said in a calm tone, 'It's exceptional...'.
In June 1940, during the occupation, he left for Guingamp. He returned to Paris and resettled by the end of 1951 in the house he had acquired, 16 rue Henri Pape, in the 13th arrondissement, once again, far from the district of antiquarians.
His love for the objects he parted with was evident even in the care he took in packaging them. Very skilled 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 those who knew him, leaving behind the memory of a man with great moral values."

HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
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 number more easily.
Christian Blondieau in his book "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 children, often colorized in a clumsy way, the cardboard soldier is made for adults and provides a guarantee of great uniformological precision, which serves as the basis for our modern documentation...
Why do the little soldiers of Alsace stand out? Because in the majority of cases, they were 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 inhabitants of Strasbourg (then a garrison city) saw a large number of soldiers in multicolored uniforms marching through their streets heading to fight in Germany.
This influx of troops, which lasted for over fifteen years, inspired some to capture these beautiful soldiers in action.
Alsatian authors agree to cite Benjamin Zix (1772-1811) as the genre's precursor. Preceding Léopold Beyer, the German Geisler, or the Austrian Klein, the Alsatian Zix gives us a very realistic view of the soldiers of the time, as a soldier himself, he traversed 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 from generation to generation this need to draw and paint[...]."
Under the First Empire, Strasbourg had approximately 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 beyond the Rhine.
Among all these artists, and for this period, the three most well-known ones 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, his style is probably the most refined that we know. Eugène Nicollet (1802-1872), who painted his soldiers from 1817 (he was 15), and for 55 years, his collection is preserved at the Compiègne Museum, his style is more naive. Wurtz, to whom we dedicate a specific section. Paul Schmidt, whose each figurine is annotated on the back with the name of the soldier as "sketched", this collection preserved at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris features soldiers of the National Guard of Strasbourg, among others.
Other artists also worked in a similar way: Frédérik Schmidt (born in 1796). Additionally, we can mention Édouard Kratz (1803-1885), Schmidt's son (born in 1824), Théodore Carl (born in 1837)...

WURTZ-PEEZ COLLECTION (Würtz in German spelling):
Wurtz began his documentation under the First Empire thanks to his friend J.P. LÉvêque, a former surgeon of the Grand Army who had compiled 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 continued by his son who completed his "Napoleonic" collection with the help of his father-in-law Mr. Pees during the Second Republic (1850), some of the figurines we present have the date 1848 on the back of the cardboard. These figurines are of very high quality. Edward Ryan, the author of the 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 comprehensive representation of the troops of the First Empire". Each regiment is depicted with all ranks and types of uniforms in an exhaustive manner, which is rare in representations of Strasbourg soldiers. Mr. Wurtz's son, Frédéric Wurtz, likely completed the uniforms he did not observe himself using 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. Following his death in 1898, the majority 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 there in 1938 and have remained since. The specialist expert Christian Blondieau considers Wurtz's style comparable to that of Nicollet and Kratz.