"This handsome book is a unique record of Napoleon's invasion of Russia by Faber du Faur, a talented artist and front-line soldier. It combines his detailed, accurate and compelling illustrations of scenes recorded as they actually happened with his vivid and gripping memoirs of the campaign. The result is a superb and remarkably detailed evocation of 1812, from the sweeping battle scenes which capture the ordeal of Smolensk and Borodino, to the day-to-day struggle to keep campfires burning and famished men fed. Faber du Faur's plates - admired and highly-regarded primary source material - are here presented, for the first time, complete and in full color. His moving and frank memoirs, edited and translated by Jonathan North, are accompanied by a detailed campaign history and biography of the artist. Napoleon's invasion of Russia is a legendary campaign and a captivating story of endurance, survival and the rigors of total war. Few of the 500,000 men to cross the Niemen in July 1812 were to survive - the French army was decimated by the advance into the heart of Russia, and almost completely destroyed in the epic retreat from Moscow. With Napoleon in Russia is a unique presentation of this epic and an unforgettable depiction of the horrors of war."
Amazon.com: With Napoleon In Russia: 9781853674549: Du Faur, Faber: Books
That is very good to know. Not being a uniformologist, it is hard to distinguish which of the artists of the "old school" (pre-Knotel the Elder) were more accurate than others in their depictions of uniforms and equipment. The actions depicted in the works are a totally different ball of wax.
I am not disagreeing, it is important to know not only when the final painting was created but also for whom.
What is impressive with Adam's work, is that even when those painting were created years after the event, the small print, the details about uniforms and equipment are of high accurary and proove that the artist must have had an immense collection of scetches and detailed notes.
Faber du Faur and Albrecht Adam are key steppingstones in the advance of military art. For the first time we have soldier-artists (in Adam's case, with government sponsorship) covering a campaign and they do so in a more realistic and natural style. Drama is reduced and the key episode is emphasized. They became the first true combat artists. It was the way of the future.
Faber du Faur was a Wurttemberger artilleryman and his anecdotes about artillery are interesting, to say the least.
Do you have a website for the Bavarian museum? And the title would also be helpful...
Born in Stuttgart, Lt Faber du Faur served the Emperor in the 25th (Wurttemburg) Division of Ney's III Corps throughout the entire campaign. Here are some examples of his work. In the first, Smolensk burns in the distance. In the second, a piece of Armageddon. These are of course, the finished product.
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For those who are interested about those plates, Faber du Faur took scetches during the Russian Campaign, as some of them can be seen in the above mentioned work, from these scetches he then composed full paintings, after those painting the usually well known engravings were made.
Whoever likes to see the paintings and will notice the differences to the plates I recommend to buy
Christian Wilhelm von Faber du Faur : Der Russlandfeldzug Napoleons 1812
edited by
Bayerisches Armeemuseum Ingolstadt.
Some of those changes are minor, others are remarkable.
The book is available by the museum shop of the Bavarian Army museum and in my view quite reasonably priced.