7th REGIMENT OF CHASSEURS À CHEVAL FIRST EMPIRE: STRASBOURG SOLDIERS CARDBOARD FIGURINE painted in gouache by the WURTZ family, second half of the 19th century, circa 1815-1848. 31156-37

7th REGIMENT OF CHASSEURS ON HORSEBACK FIRST EMPIRE: SOLDIERS FROM STRASBOURG CARDBOARD FIGURINE painted by the WURTZ family, second half of the 19th century, around 1815-1848. 31156-37

Five riders, 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, a collector who became an antiquarian between the two world wars. To my knowledge, there has never been any biography or article published about this personality who is nevertheless well known to collectors and often mentioned in the provenance of historical objects of great quality. This is why I will open my archives to better present this great connoisseur:
"Mobilized during the First World War, as was his brother in the infantry, the latter was killed at Verdun. Both shared the same taste for military memorabilia; they 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 favorite districts of antiquarians. His choice focused on the specialty that had attracted him for a long time: military curiosities. His interest in this specialty stemmed from his first find: an officer's sabre from the Consulate era, his first fine sword; he called it his 'lucky charm' and always kept it.
The profession of an antiquarian allowed Saint-Aubin to see and possess these objects for a while. A discerning connoisseur, he never made mistakes, and his clients benefited from his knowledge. A passionate researcher, everything he discovered in his life was remarkably varied. Silent and modest, he had an art and a way about him that left an indelible memory with the amateurs who knew him.
Like most military objects dealers of that time, Marcel Saint-Aubin did not have a store. He received customers in his apartment, where few objects were found and they only occupied a temporary space. Generally, like Paul Jean, he would fetch the objects he wanted to sell from the neighboring room and present them often without saying anything, with a slight smile, or if the presented object was truly exceptional, he would simply say without raising his voice, 'This is excellent.'"
In June 1940, during the occupation, he went to Guingamp. He returned to Paris, where he 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 antique dealers' quarter.
His love for the objects he parted with could even be seen in the care he put into packaging them. Very skilled 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 CONTEXT:
The soldiers from Strasbourg are cardboard figurines, "flat" soldiers, cut from stiff cardboard. In most cases, these soldiers are drawn and then printed on sheets to easily multiply their number.
Christian Blondieau, in his work "Little soldiers of lead, tin, paper, cardboard ... 1765-1965 - The collector's guide" published by Le Képi Rouge Paris in 1996, specifies regarding cardboard soldiers:
"[...] unlike paper soldiers intended more for children, often colored in a clumsy way, the cardboard soldier is made for adults and guarantees a high level of uniform precision, which serves as the basis for our modern documentation...
Why do the little soldiers from Alsace stand out? Because they were mostly created by eyewitnesses of the time or their descendants, and are often contemporary to the period they represent.
During the wars of the Revolution and the Empire, the residents of Strasbourg (then a garrison town) saw a large number of soldiers in colorful uniforms passing through the streets as they left for battle in Germany.
This influx of troops, which lasted for more than fifteen years, inspired some to quickly sketch these splendid soldiers.
The Alsatian authors unanimously cite Benjamin Zix (1772-1811) as the genre's precursor. Leading ahead of Léopold Beyer, the German Geisler, or the Austrian Klein, the Alsatian Zix provides a very realistic view of the soldiers of the time, as he, being a combatant himself, roamed the battlefields more often armed with a pencil than a rifle. He became an Officer draftsman in the Army.
From the peace of 1815 to the war of 1914, Strasbourg artists from generation to generation continued this need for drawing and painting [...]."
Under 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 mandatory stop for countless troops of the Revolution and the Grand Army heading to campaigns across the Rhine.
Among all these artists during that period, the three most well-known are: Thiébaut Borerst (incorrectly spelled Boersch) (1782-1824), a baker who started drawing around 1800 and was the nephew of the painter Benjamin Zix. His collection was dispersed at an auction in Angers on March 10, 1971. His style is probably the most refined we know. Eugène Nicollet (1802-1872), who painted his soldiers from 1817 (at the age of 15) and continued for 55 years. His collection is kept at the Museum of Compiègne and his style is more naive. Wurtz, to whom we devote a specific paragraph. Paul Schmidt, whose every figurine is annotated on the back with the name of the soldier as "sketched." This collection is housed at the Musée de l’Armée in Paris and notably represents soldiers of the National Guard of Strasbourg, among others.
Other artists also worked in a similar manner: Frédérik Schmidt (born in 1796). Additionally, Édouard Kratz (1803-1885), Schmidt's son (born in 1824), Théodore Carl (born in 1837) have contributed to this style of work.

WURTZ-PEEZ COLLECTION (German spelling Würtz):
Wurtz began his documentation of the First Empire through his friend J.P LÉvêque, a former surgeon of the Grande Armée who had gathered a significant amount of documentation on Napoleon's armies. He began creating his figurines as early as 1825 with the help of his son and later Pees, his father-in-law. The production continued with his son, who completed the "Napoleonic" collection with the help of his father-in-law Mr. Pees under the Second Republic (1850). Some of the figurines we present bear the date 1848 on the back of the cardboard. These figurines are of very high quality. The 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 complete representation of troops of the First Empire." Each regiment is represented in all ranks and types of uniforms exhaustively, which is rare in the representations of Strasbourg soldiers.
Frédéric Wurtz, the son of Mr. Wurtz, likely completed the uniforms he had not observed himself using other documentary sources.
After the fall of the Second Empire, Frédéric Wurtz refused to remain in Strasbourg under Prussian occupation and moved to Paris, settling 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, who was a medical major. The figurines were exhibited there in 1938 and have remained since then.
The expert and specialist Christian Blondieau considers Wurtz's style comparable to that of Nicollet and Kratz.