This section features a select three prints from the European War Prints collection from the MFA, Houston which pertain to my research. Even though they do not necessarily fit within the outlines of my Caricature and Romanticism essays, I wanted to include the following prints because they are important examples art during and after wartime in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. |
Theodore Falkeysen (Swiss, 1768-1814) after Benjamin West (American, 1738-1820) The Death of General Wolfe c. 1780-90 Etching and engraving, 19 3/8 x 24 7/8" To improve nationalist sentiment during times of war in the eighteenth century, artists commemorated key military figures through paintings and prints. General James Wolfe’s military prowess during the Siege of Quebec fueled British pride for colonial expansion. Numerous artists including George Romney (1734-1802), Edward Penny (1714-1791) and James Barry (1741-1806) depicted his dying moment to remind the public of his sacrifice for British success in North America.[i] Wolfe secured British control in French Quebec during the Seven Year’s War (1756-1763). However, he was wounded and died shortly after the battle ended on 13 September 1758. This event became a symbol for British nationalism, martyrdom, and was a popular theme for patriotic propaganda.
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Benjamin West’s (1738-1820) painting The Death of General Wolfe (1770) invites a comparison of the General’s death to that of a Pietà or Deposition of Christ.[ii] At the center of the composition, Wolfe lies collapsed in the arms of three devoted soldiers. Like a Pietà or a Deposition of Christ, the lighting in this triangular structure highlights the General and a British flag at the apex. The subject is flanked by two groups of soldiers who represent England’s accompanying nations. The leftmost group stares at the dying General while on the right are two men with hands clasped in prayer. Wolfe’s right hand is bandaged, and one man holds a cloth to his chest, referring to the multiple injuries he received during battle. He also was wounded at the groin, but it is not acknowledged.[iii] In the background battle reaches its climax as a young man carries a flag, to inform Wolfe of victory. Although the General did not die until after the end of the battle, West included the battle scene during this mortal collapse to present death as a grand gesture of dedication to one’s country. The artist was criticized for his historical inaccuracies, but he responded, “the same truth the pen of historian should govern the pencil of the artist… I want to mark the date, the place, and the parties engaged in the event.”[iv] The purpose of the composition is to celebrate Wolfe as Britain’s martyr during the Seven Year’s War. His death represents sacrifice and the turning point that ultimately caused France to cede Canada to England.
Unlike the paintings by other artists, West’s scene depicts Wolfe’s final moments surrounded by thirteen figures and an active battle in the background, rather than the few soldiers who were present during the actual event. Each person represents the various groups who fought with the British, known through William Wollett’s (1735-1785) Key to Accompany The Death of General Wolfe, published in 1776. Wollett, who first reproduced West’s painting in print, sketched the faces and included the soldiers’ names above.[v] The seated Native American on the lower right may, at first, seem out of place in this scene; however, West used this figure to symbolize the American theater during the Seven Year’s War. Celebrated for his colonial American history paintings, West typically included Native Americans in his paintings to serve as allegory and symbolism.[vi]
Wolfe was treated as a martyr and as a strong leader by not just the British, but by other European nations as well. The print from this collection is Swiss printmaker Theodore Falckeysen’s (1768-1814) reproduction of Woollett’s engraving of West’s painting. It is possible that Falkeysen’s aim was to better distribute the image and capitalize on its popularity outside of Britain even though Woollett’s print was incredibly successful.[vii] Print reproduction was a common practice outside Britain as the Engraver’s Act of 1735 (also known as the Hogarth Act) prohibited imitations of prints within the country, though the Act did not cover foreign nations.[viii] Despite the legal restrictions on engraving within Britain, Falckeysen’s print secured General Wolfe’s position as a martyr and successful military leader throughout Europe.
Unlike the paintings by other artists, West’s scene depicts Wolfe’s final moments surrounded by thirteen figures and an active battle in the background, rather than the few soldiers who were present during the actual event. Each person represents the various groups who fought with the British, known through William Wollett’s (1735-1785) Key to Accompany The Death of General Wolfe, published in 1776. Wollett, who first reproduced West’s painting in print, sketched the faces and included the soldiers’ names above.[v] The seated Native American on the lower right may, at first, seem out of place in this scene; however, West used this figure to symbolize the American theater during the Seven Year’s War. Celebrated for his colonial American history paintings, West typically included Native Americans in his paintings to serve as allegory and symbolism.[vi]
Wolfe was treated as a martyr and as a strong leader by not just the British, but by other European nations as well. The print from this collection is Swiss printmaker Theodore Falckeysen’s (1768-1814) reproduction of Woollett’s engraving of West’s painting. It is possible that Falkeysen’s aim was to better distribute the image and capitalize on its popularity outside of Britain even though Woollett’s print was incredibly successful.[vii] Print reproduction was a common practice outside Britain as the Engraver’s Act of 1735 (also known as the Hogarth Act) prohibited imitations of prints within the country, though the Act did not cover foreign nations.[viii] Despite the legal restrictions on engraving within Britain, Falckeysen’s print secured General Wolfe’s position as a martyr and successful military leader throughout Europe.
Jean-Pierre-Marie Jazet (French, 1788-1871) after Horace Vernet (French, 1789-1863) The Waterloo Soldier (Le Soldat de Waterloo) 1821 Aquatint, 20 2/3 x 24" Bonapartists memorialized Napoleon and his reign as Emperor, even well into the Bourbon Restoration in the 1810s. Artists including Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) and Horace Vernet (1789-1863) were commissioned by wealthy individuals to create images of not just Napoleon, but the Grande Armée. Paintings and prints include numerous depictions of both French victory and defeat. One of the most popular of these subjects is the Battle of Waterloo of 1815 in which France suffered their final defeat, ending the Napoleonic Wars.
Jean-Pierre-Marie Jazet’s aquatint Le Soldat de Waterloo (1821), reproducing Vernet’s painting of the same title, depicts a wounded French soldier resting after a long and arduous battle.[i] |
Trees bent by strong gusts of wind frame the casualties—dead men and a dead horse—on the hillside behind the central figure. Scattered around the central figure are uniform remnants, weaponry, and what seems to be a partially buried cannon in the lower right corner of the image. The soldier holds a shovel that digs into the ground to the left of a dead soldier. Under the mound on which he sits is a head face down with a hand grasping a French grenadier’s cap; this sole surviving solider has buried his fellow soldiers.
It is quite possible that the Waterloo Soldier is Lord Byron’s character Childe Harold from his poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” (1812). Byron was a well-known and often problematic poet known for his critiques of humanity and his Romantic perspective of the world. Harold, a traveler who left his family and home, finds himself in a war-torn land and contemplates the results and purpose of war:
It is quite possible that the Waterloo Soldier is Lord Byron’s character Childe Harold from his poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” (1812). Byron was a well-known and often problematic poet known for his critiques of humanity and his Romantic perspective of the world. Harold, a traveler who left his family and home, finds himself in a war-torn land and contemplates the results and purpose of war:
And Harold stands upon this place of skulls,
The grave of France, the deadly Waterloo! How in an hour the power which gave annuls Its gifts, transferring fame as fleeting too! In 'pride of place' here last the eagle flew, Then tore with bloody talon the rent plain, Pierced by the shaft of banded nations through: Ambition's life and labours all were vain; He wears the shattered links of the world's broken chain. |
Fit retribution! Gaul may champ the bit,
And foam in fetters, but is Earth more free? Did nations combat to make ONE submit; Or league to teach all kings true sovereignty? What! shall reviving thraldom again be The patched-up idol of enlightened days? Shall we, who struck the Lion down, shall we Pay the Wolf homage? proffering lowly gaze And servile knees to thrones? No; PROVE before ye praise! III.XVIII-XIV |
There are numerous correlations between the aquatint and the poem, namely the illuminated cross staked in the mound in the background may reference Byron’s name for Waterloo, “the grave of France”. The scene reminds the viewer of the many lives lost throughout the Napoleonic Wars as well as the problems they faced during the following Bourbon Restoration. The soldier holds a similar pose to figures in other historic prints which represent melancholia [ii]; however, his facial expressions suggests anger as well as contemplation of what he will face and, possibly, the questions asked in stanza XIV of the poem. The problems caused by the French defeat at Waterloo were twofold: first, the political and social equalities fought for since 1789 were now eliminated. Napoleon’s failure meant that the Bourbon Restoration, the revival of an absolutist monarchy, would remove Revolutionary France’s constitution aimed towards social equalities. Secondly, because soldiers were either forced into early retirement or restricted their salaries under the Restoration, their decade-long careers career were lost.[iii] The new government stripped soldiers’ titles and pay because they fought for Napoleon and survived. This print, whether or not it is a reference to Byron’s poem, resonated with the neglected veterans of the Napoleonic Wars and reminded the viewer of the Restoration’s negative effect in France.
Jazet trained as a printmaker from a young age under his uncle. He became noted as a reproduction engraver in 1817, reproducing works by French painters Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835) and Horace Vernet, a notable Bonapartist.[iv] Jazet’s Le Soldat de Waterloo print is a reproduction of Vernet’s painting of the same title. Unfortunately, the original painting was rejected by the well-known Paris Salon of 1822, under the Royalist control. While Vernet responded by displaying his forty-five paintings of the soldier’s life in his own studio as a public salon, Jazet’s larger print brought the expressive scene to a wider, sympathetic audience.[v]
Jazet trained as a printmaker from a young age under his uncle. He became noted as a reproduction engraver in 1817, reproducing works by French painters Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835) and Horace Vernet, a notable Bonapartist.[iv] Jazet’s Le Soldat de Waterloo print is a reproduction of Vernet’s painting of the same title. Unfortunately, the original painting was rejected by the well-known Paris Salon of 1822, under the Royalist control. While Vernet responded by displaying his forty-five paintings of the soldier’s life in his own studio as a public salon, Jazet’s larger print brought the expressive scene to a wider, sympathetic audience.[v]
Nicholas-Toussaint Charlet (French, 1757-1834) Soldier at a Print-seller's Stand (Seriez-vouz sensible?) 1823 Lithograph, 6 7/8 x 7 3/8" The sympathetic view from artists including Horace Vernet (1789-1863) and Theodore Géricault (1791-1824) often treated the veteran soldier of the Napoleonic Wars as another casualty of war and change in government. Under the Restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy, soldiers who fought under Napoleon’s Grande Armée were forced to retire or were cut to part-time in favor of having Royalists in the new, smaller military.[i] Loyal Bonapartists aimed to make the Napoleonic veteran who was stripped of his position honorable. Rather than addressing the depressive side of the veteran’s life, as Vernet had, others depicted them as pleasant story-tellers who tell their audience of the battles they fought. Through lithography and prints, the proper Bonapartist soldier was a wide-spread and desired subject for the lower classes as well as the wealthy, who often commissioned these prints.[ii]
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Nicholas-Toussaint Charlet’s (1792-1845) lithograph Soldier at a Print-seller’s Stand (Seriez-vous sensible?) (1823) depicts the soldier not on the battlefront, but in the public sphere reminiscing about war. A French soldier, dressed in the uniform of the imperial light cavalry, expressively gestures his hands while speaking towards a woman carrying a child and a toy hoop in her arms. Beside the soldier are two young children in tattered clothes who look up towards him, intensely listening to the conversation. The boy to the left of the maid, most likely in her care, is much cleaner looking and obviously of a higher class than the children on the right. The young boy also wears military accessories- including a small sword and sabretache, a flat satchel used by cavalrymen- which mimicks the soldier’s own accoutrement. On the far left are two men at a doorway; one looks away from the scene while the other leans on the doorframe, interested in what the soldier has to say. In addition to the main subject, the wall subtly adds to the story through references to Vernet and Géricault, two artists popular for their depictions of Napoleonic veterans and war. Charlet includes small, barely legible signatures at the bottom of two of the prints pinned on the wall. One of the boys on the right points to a battle scene with “H. Vernet” written at the bottom while “Gericault” is found on a piece depicting a soldier on a horse, one of Géricault’s preferred subjects.
“Seriez-vous sensible?” can mean both “Are you sensitive?” and “Are you compassionate?” in English. As many of the figures are looking towards the solider, it seems that the answer is yes, these people recognize the problems veterans face. Yet the question then shifts towards the woman, due to the small print of Cupid above the soldier’s raise right hand who points his bow and arrow at her. It is possible that the question is if the maid wishes to accept the soldier’s advances through the Cupid motif. Sexualizing the soldier was a common practice at this time because artists reemphasizes the idea of a proud and successful man despite the terrible consequences of war.[iii] Soldier at a Print-seller’s Stand shows the veteran as an active and positive member of society, reminding the public of French victories and prowess.
Charlet, the son of a Republican soldier, educated by Bonapartist schools and artists, and a veteran of the Clichy Barricade of 1814 sought to continue the idea of a powerful and respectable soldier.[iv] He frequently referenced the Napoleonic military in his work to promote sympathy towards their circumstance. Charlet juxtaposed images of soldiers regaling their battle stories with the reality of their lives under the Bourbon Restoration to create a sort of morbid humor. The veteran often suffered in poverty and was forced to find new work in a failing post-war economy. While the viewer would want the soldier to be as joyful like those in Charlet’s prints, the truth is they experienced hardship and incredible loss under a new government.
“Seriez-vous sensible?” can mean both “Are you sensitive?” and “Are you compassionate?” in English. As many of the figures are looking towards the solider, it seems that the answer is yes, these people recognize the problems veterans face. Yet the question then shifts towards the woman, due to the small print of Cupid above the soldier’s raise right hand who points his bow and arrow at her. It is possible that the question is if the maid wishes to accept the soldier’s advances through the Cupid motif. Sexualizing the soldier was a common practice at this time because artists reemphasizes the idea of a proud and successful man despite the terrible consequences of war.[iii] Soldier at a Print-seller’s Stand shows the veteran as an active and positive member of society, reminding the public of French victories and prowess.
Charlet, the son of a Republican soldier, educated by Bonapartist schools and artists, and a veteran of the Clichy Barricade of 1814 sought to continue the idea of a powerful and respectable soldier.[iv] He frequently referenced the Napoleonic military in his work to promote sympathy towards their circumstance. Charlet juxtaposed images of soldiers regaling their battle stories with the reality of their lives under the Bourbon Restoration to create a sort of morbid humor. The veteran often suffered in poverty and was forced to find new work in a failing post-war economy. While the viewer would want the soldier to be as joyful like those in Charlet’s prints, the truth is they experienced hardship and incredible loss under a new government.
Endnotes
The Death of General Wolfe
i Dennis Montagna Benjamin West's The Death of General Wolfe: A Nationalist Narrative. (American Art Journal 13, no. 2, 1981), 75, 77 and James Clifton, The Plains of Mars: European War Prints; 1500-1825; from the Collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation. “The Death of General Wolfe”, Kaylin H. Weber. (New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 2009), 189.
ii A Pietà is a popular Christian motif, often used in sculpture, that depicts Jesus dying in Mary’s arms. Christ’s Deposition is the subject in many Renaissance paintings including Raphael and Caravaggio in which Jesus is carried by his disciples.
iii Montagna, Benjamin West’s Death of General Wolfe, 75-76.
iv John Galt, The Life, Studies, and Works of Benjamin West, Esq.: (President of the Royal Academy of London. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1820. Reprint, Charleston, SC.: BiblioBazaar, 2006), 125-126.
v William Wollett, Key to Accompany The Death of General Wolfe, 1776. Engraving, 187 x 223 mm (7 3/8 x 8 3/4 in.) (British Museum, London).
vi Clifton, “The Death of General Wolfe”, 186. Weber references a soapstone pipe bowl with the same accessories and profile as the painted figure. For the figure, West added a feathered headdress and beaded strings where the chamber is located on the pipe bowl. For more information on West’s use of artifacts and the Native American figure, see Vivian Fryd Green, Rereading the Indian in Benjamin West’s Death of General Wolfe. American Art 9, no I. (Spring 1995): 72-85 and J. C. H. King, Woodlands Artifacts from the Studio of Benjamin West, 1738-1820. (American Indian Art Magazine, Winter 1991), 35-47.
vii Note the unfinished inscription at the bottom which states its intention: “to [be] sold in Basel at Theodor Falckeysen, in Augsburg at I: Klauber[,] in Nuremberg at I:F: Frauenholz.” On Wollett’s print, see Clifton, “The Death of General Wolfe”, 189.
viii On British print reproduction in Germany see Payne, Christiana and William Vaughn, eds. English Accents: Interactions with British Art, c. 1776-1855. (Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2004). On Wollett’s print see Clifton, “The Death of General Wolfe”, 189. On the Engraver’s Act see Mary Dorothy George, English Political Caricature to 1792. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1959)
i Dennis Montagna Benjamin West's The Death of General Wolfe: A Nationalist Narrative. (American Art Journal 13, no. 2, 1981), 75, 77 and James Clifton, The Plains of Mars: European War Prints; 1500-1825; from the Collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation. “The Death of General Wolfe”, Kaylin H. Weber. (New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 2009), 189.
ii A Pietà is a popular Christian motif, often used in sculpture, that depicts Jesus dying in Mary’s arms. Christ’s Deposition is the subject in many Renaissance paintings including Raphael and Caravaggio in which Jesus is carried by his disciples.
iii Montagna, Benjamin West’s Death of General Wolfe, 75-76.
iv John Galt, The Life, Studies, and Works of Benjamin West, Esq.: (President of the Royal Academy of London. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1820. Reprint, Charleston, SC.: BiblioBazaar, 2006), 125-126.
v William Wollett, Key to Accompany The Death of General Wolfe, 1776. Engraving, 187 x 223 mm (7 3/8 x 8 3/4 in.) (British Museum, London).
vi Clifton, “The Death of General Wolfe”, 186. Weber references a soapstone pipe bowl with the same accessories and profile as the painted figure. For the figure, West added a feathered headdress and beaded strings where the chamber is located on the pipe bowl. For more information on West’s use of artifacts and the Native American figure, see Vivian Fryd Green, Rereading the Indian in Benjamin West’s Death of General Wolfe. American Art 9, no I. (Spring 1995): 72-85 and J. C. H. King, Woodlands Artifacts from the Studio of Benjamin West, 1738-1820. (American Indian Art Magazine, Winter 1991), 35-47.
vii Note the unfinished inscription at the bottom which states its intention: “to [be] sold in Basel at Theodor Falckeysen, in Augsburg at I: Klauber[,] in Nuremberg at I:F: Frauenholz.” On Wollett’s print, see Clifton, “The Death of General Wolfe”, 189.
viii On British print reproduction in Germany see Payne, Christiana and William Vaughn, eds. English Accents: Interactions with British Art, c. 1776-1855. (Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate, 2004). On Wollett’s print see Clifton, “The Death of General Wolfe”, 189. On the Engraver’s Act see Mary Dorothy George, English Political Caricature to 1792. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1959)
Le Soldat de Waterloo (The Waterloo Soldier)
[i] Nina Anthanassoglo-Kallmyer, “Sad Cincinnatus: Le Soldat Laboureur as an Image of the Napoleonic Veteran after the Empire.” (Arts Magazine 60, no. 9, 1986). Vernet’s painting was commissioned by the duc d’Orléans, who would become King Louis-Philippe in 1830. Anthanassoglo-Kallmyer, 74.
ii James Clifton, The Plains of Mars: European War Prints; 1500-1825; from the Collection of the Sarah Blaffer Foundation. “The Waterloo Soldier (Le Soldat de Waterloo)”, Leslie M. Scattone. (New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 2009), 98. This pose from Albrecht Dürer’s Melancolia I (1514) is referenced by Leslie M. Scattone in their entry for The Waterloo Soldier and The Soldier-Farmer in the Plains of Mars exhibition catalogue.
iii Richard Holroyd, The Bourbon Army, 1815-1830. (The Historical Journal 14, no. 3, 1971), 529. The new financial and political situation called for downsizing the army and the royalists were favored to serve to limit the possibility of revolt.
iv Clifton, “Artists’ Biographies”, 221-222.
v Clifton, “The Waterloo Soldier”, 98-100.
[i] Nina Anthanassoglo-Kallmyer, “Sad Cincinnatus: Le Soldat Laboureur as an Image of the Napoleonic Veteran after the Empire.” (Arts Magazine 60, no. 9, 1986). Vernet’s painting was commissioned by the duc d’Orléans, who would become King Louis-Philippe in 1830. Anthanassoglo-Kallmyer, 74.
ii James Clifton, The Plains of Mars: European War Prints; 1500-1825; from the Collection of the Sarah Blaffer Foundation. “The Waterloo Soldier (Le Soldat de Waterloo)”, Leslie M. Scattone. (New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 2009), 98. This pose from Albrecht Dürer’s Melancolia I (1514) is referenced by Leslie M. Scattone in their entry for The Waterloo Soldier and The Soldier-Farmer in the Plains of Mars exhibition catalogue.
iii Richard Holroyd, The Bourbon Army, 1815-1830. (The Historical Journal 14, no. 3, 1971), 529. The new financial and political situation called for downsizing the army and the royalists were favored to serve to limit the possibility of revolt.
iv Clifton, “Artists’ Biographies”, 221-222.
v Clifton, “The Waterloo Soldier”, 98-100.
Seriez-vous sensible? (Soldier at a Print-seller's stand)
i Holroyd, Richard. The Bourbon Army, 1815-1830. (The Historical Journal 14, no. 3, 1971), 529.ii In 1822, Théodore Géricault was commissioned by Antoine-Vincent Arnault to make two lithographs for Arnault’s Vie politique et militarie de Napoléon (1822-26).
ii For more information on Géricault’s Bonapartist prints, see James Clifton, The Plains of Mars: European War Prints; 1500-1825; from the Collection of the Sarah Blaffer Foundation. “March in the Desert (Marche dans le desert)” and “Crossing of Mount St. Bernard (Passage du Mont St. Bernard)” Leslie M. Scattone. (New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 2009), 87-89.
iii Beatrice Farwell. French Popular Lithographic Imagery, 1815-1870. Vol. 3 (Genre: Urban and Military. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983), 19.
iv For Charlet’s biography and related work Joseph Félix de la Combe, Charlet, sa vie, ses lettres suivie d’une description raisonnée de son œuvre lithographique. (Paris : Paulin er Le Chevalier, 1856). See also Katie Hornstein, “A Crowd Favorite”, in Picturing War in France: 1789-1856 (Yale University Press, 2017), 68-70.
i Holroyd, Richard. The Bourbon Army, 1815-1830. (The Historical Journal 14, no. 3, 1971), 529.ii In 1822, Théodore Géricault was commissioned by Antoine-Vincent Arnault to make two lithographs for Arnault’s Vie politique et militarie de Napoléon (1822-26).
ii For more information on Géricault’s Bonapartist prints, see James Clifton, The Plains of Mars: European War Prints; 1500-1825; from the Collection of the Sarah Blaffer Foundation. “March in the Desert (Marche dans le desert)” and “Crossing of Mount St. Bernard (Passage du Mont St. Bernard)” Leslie M. Scattone. (New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 2009), 87-89.
iii Beatrice Farwell. French Popular Lithographic Imagery, 1815-1870. Vol. 3 (Genre: Urban and Military. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983), 19.
iv For Charlet’s biography and related work Joseph Félix de la Combe, Charlet, sa vie, ses lettres suivie d’une description raisonnée de son œuvre lithographique. (Paris : Paulin er Le Chevalier, 1856). See also Katie Hornstein, “A Crowd Favorite”, in Picturing War in France: 1789-1856 (Yale University Press, 2017), 68-70.