Voltigeurs de la Garde Impériale, 1811

Hello,

Today I'm showing you some more figures I painted myself. Unlike my last attempts, these figures are in the "classic style" of the petit soldats de strasbourg, standing 10 cm tall (without headgear).

These figures were created in December. I've changed a few things about my style. For one, I didn't want to paint so many highlights – it always looks odd on my figures with the very dark French uniform blue. Also, I've noticed that some of my "older" figures are coming loose from their cardboard backing. Therefore, this time I decided against creating thick, multi-layered figures and instead glued small wooden sticks directly to the back for reinforcement.

The troop depicted here are the Voltigeurs of the Imperial Guard. Between 1810 and 1815, there were up to 16 regiments of them! It's astonishing that there are hardly any contemporary depictions of their uniforms. The pictures I could find all show very similar details, with the two-tone plume and the yellow (chamois) Voltigeur collars. 

Knötel ("the Younger") painted a slightly different figure, with yellow and green interwoven shako cords and a yellow pennant. I couldn't resist including this variation in my little troop. To make him fit in better, I also gave him a plume (instead of the green pompom in the painting). 

Tambour, Sergent-major, Sergent Porte-Fanion

The pioneer was copied from a sample in the Carl collection, and the drum major is based on a sketch by Boeswillwald. Except for the yellow collar, it seems almost identical to the uniform of the Guard Chasseurs. But I simply love those green boots and therefore chose this version.

Sapeur, Tambour-Major, Capitaine (in uniform of the Fusilier-Chasseurs de la Garde)

Best regards, 

Andreas

J.F.Schreiber 934 - Die Soldaten Friedrichs des Großen, Füsiliere angreifend

Hello,

Today I'm showing you something again from the J.F. Schreiber publishing house in Esslingen. While my research with other major German publishers is somewhat stalled, I'm currently managing to find new information and items from Schreiber.

The sheet I'm presenting today was drawn by Eugen Blumentritt and sold in the 1930s and 1940s. The 12 fusiliers on it are about 8.5 cm tall. The sheet belongs to a series of 10 intended to depict the army of Frederick the Great. The figures have a very simplified, almost cartoonish style.

This sheet is very interesting; it seems to have been a kind of sample sheet used by a salesperson. On the back, a list with the contents and numbers of all ten sheets in this series has been carefully affixed. There are also two stickers indicating the booklets with sheets available from the publisher. There was a booklet with 25 sheets for 3.15 Reichsmarks, or a larger version with 50 sheets for 6.15 Reichsmarks.

Best regards, 

Andreas

Imageries Reunies Jarville-Nancy - 459 Manoeuvres d'Artillerie

Hello,

today I'm showing you another sheet from the Imagerie Jarville-Nancy. 

This one is number 459 and depicts four rows of French siege and field artillery performing various tasks on the gun. The figures are 7 to 7.5 cm tall.

Best regards,

Andreas

Luxuspapierfabrik Berlin - Englische Kavallerie

Hello,

today I'm showing you my British cavalry figures from the Luxuspapierfabrik Berlin. Unfortunately, I only have a few individual figure strips, so I've decided to combine them all into one post.

Englische Dragoner

Englische Ulanen

As always, the figures are 8.5 cm tall.

Englische Husaren

Best regards, 

Andreas

Wurtz-Pées - 3e régiment étranger irlandais

Hello,

A few weeks ago I stumbled across some very interesting plates with images of historical paper figures. I'd like to show you a series of them today.

As far as my research has shown, these plates were inserts in the magazine "Soldats Napoleoniens" (Napoleonic Soldiers). The figures shown are photographs from the Musée de l'Armée (Army Museum) of the very well-known collection of hand-painted paper soldiers belonging to the Wurtz-Pées family. This collection was created roughly between 1825 and 1855 and essentially depicts all the units of the Napoleonic French Army and its allies.

Interestingly, these plates also show the original backs of the figures on the reverse side.

The series shown here depicts the 3rd Foreign Regiment from Ireland (3e régiment étranger "irlandais") of the French Army in the uniform of 1811.

Best regards,

Andreas

Abadie - Soldatenbilderbogen, Feldkanone im Gefecht

Hello,

today I'm showing you another Abadie printing sheet featuring Austrian soldiers from the interwar period.

"Feldkanone im Gefecht" sheet from the first series of Soldaten-Bilderbogen

To be precise, I've already shown this sheet here before – specifically, the version from the second series of Abadie sheets. These sheets are slightly larger and have Roman numeral numbering. As far as I know, there were numbers I to XIII. Here is the equivalent from the first, unnumbered series.

For the sake of completeness, here is the sheet from the 2nd series.

As always with Abadie, the figures are 6 cm tall.

Best regards,

Andreas

J.F.Schreiber 990 - Türkisches Heer, Infanterie und Freiwillige

Hello,

today I'm showing you eight 9,5cm tall Turkish infantrymen that originally came from printing sheet no.990 by J.F. Schreiber.

Unfortunately, the figures are not in good condition. Some are badly faded, some have water damage, and the bayonets are broken. If they hadn't been glued to fiberboard and cut out, they probably wouldn't have survived. They are hard-used historical toys that appear to have been repaired several times, illustrating that with this figures were actually played with.

Best regards, 

Andreas