Historical Military Art of
Alphonce de Neuville in Military art prints, from the Zulu war, Franco -
Prussian War and the Crimean War.
Artist Information:
Alphonse Marie de Neuville
The son of a banker, Alphonse was born in Saint Omer, Normandy, on the last day
of May, 1836. As a youngster, he yearned to be a soldier but his family insisted
that he study law. Although he completed his law degree in 1857, he showed more
interest in art and approached Adolphe Yvon and Hipployte Bellange about his
idea but both discouraged him so he entered the studio of Francois-Eduard Picot
where he started work with another pupil and future military artist, Berne-Bellecour.
The great painter Delacroix also took the young painter under his wing.
In 1859, the artist showed his first military painting at the Salon. The Fifth
Battalion of Chasseurs at the Gervais Battery, Malahoff for which he won a
medal. A commission to paint Garibaldi taking Naples was received the following
year and de Neuville went to the place to sketch first-hand. While there he
witnessed the siege at Capou. He received a second-class medal for another
painting of the Crimean War shortly after.
Throughout the 1860s he busied himself with various large canvases depicting
events from the Crimean War and Italian War of 1859, but it was to the events of
the war with Prussia in 1870-71 that De Neuville was to gain his reputation as a
painter of the 'incident' rather than the event. At the age of 35, the artist
found himself as an officer of auxiliary sappers near Paris, and participated in
the battles at Le Bourget and Champigny. These experiences enabled him to embark
on a series of remarkable paintings chronicling the suffering of the French
soldiers in the war. In 1872 appeared The Bivouac before Le Bourget but it was
his picture of the following year, The Last Cartridge which really brought his
name to prominence among the art critics of Paris. In this powerful and pathetic
picture, a small group of French chasseurs await their fate in the upper room of
a shot-riddled house having exhausted their ammunition. To achieve the reality
of the moment, the artist painted the scene in a room which had been riddled
with bullets and wreaked of powder. His 1875 piece entitled Attack by fire upon
a barricaded house at Villersexel was regarded by many as his finest picture to
date, but this was soon overshadowed by the immensely popular Le Bourget painted
in 1878 showing a few French soldiers filing out of a church into the arms of
the victorious Prussians. During the next few years, his reputation before him,
he found employment in England with the Fine Art Society painting scenes from
the various colonial campaigns in Zululand and Egypt resulting in his pictures
of Rorke's Drift and Tel-el-Kebir but he soon returned to the subject he was
most at home with, the war of 1870. Pictures for the 1880s include the famous
Cemetery of St Privat and two panoramas of the battles at Champigny and
Rezonville painted with his pupil, Edouard Detaille. His premature death at the
age of 49 in May 1885 shocked the art world but his numerous pictures were a
lasting testament to his greatness and sensitiveness to the sufferings of the
common soldier. |
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Le Cimitiere De Saint Pravat by Alphonse De Neuville.
Prussian troops storm the Cemetery of Saint Pravat after a desperate defence. Gravelotte-St-Privat was the turning point in the Franco-Prussian War leading directly to the final defeat of the French at Sedan, the collapse of Napoleon IIIs régime and the proclamation of the German Empire.
Open edition print. Image size 30 inches x 19 inches (76cm x 48cm). Price £48.00
Open edition print. Image size 12 inches x 8 inches (31cm x 20cm). Price £14.00
Limited edition of 200 giclee canvas prints. Image size 40 inches x 30 inches (102cm x 76cm). Price £500.00
Limited edition of 200 giclee canvas prints. Image size 30 inches x 20 inches (76cm x 51cm). Price £390.00
Open edition print. Image size 30 inches x 19 inches (76cm x 48cm). Price £38.00
ITEM CODE DHM0139
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Surprise attack in the Suburbs of Metz by Alphonse de Neuville.
French skirmishers engaging Prussians during an attack in Metz during August 1870.
Open edition print. Image size 23 inches x 15 inches (58cm x 38cm). Price £25.00
Open edition print. Image size 12 inches x 8 inches (31cm x 20cm). Price £14.00
Limited edition of 200 giclee canvas prints. Image size 40 inches x 30 inches (102cm x 76cm). Price £500.00
Limited edition of 200 giclee canvas prints. Image size 30 inches x 20 inches (76cm x 51cm). Price £390.00
**Open edition print. (Two copies reduced to clear) Image size 23 inches x 15 inches (58cm x 38cm). Price £31.00
ITEM CODE DHM0227
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Captive Difficile by Alphonse de Neuville.
A lone French soldier is herded into captivity after being captured during the Franco Prussian war.
Open edition print. Image size 12 inches x 9 inches (31cm x 23cm). Price £14.00
Limited edition of 200 giclee canvas prints. Image size 20 inches x 30 inches (51cm x 76cm). Price £390.00
**Open edition print. (One copy reduced to clear) Image size 12 inches x 9 inches (31cm x 23cm). Price £8.00
ITEM CODE DHM0234
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The Charge by Alphonse de Neuville.
French Dragoons charge a Prussian position during the Franco Prussian war.
Open edition print. Image size 23 inches x 15 inches (58cm x 38cm). Price £25.00
Open edition print. Image size 12 inches x 8 inches (31cm x 20cm). Price £14.00
**Open edition print. (Two copies in near perfect condition) Image size 23 inches x 15 inches (58cm x 38cm). Price £31.00
ITEM CODE DHM0392
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La Defence de la Longbayau by Alphonse De Neuville.
French infantry struggle to defend a large gateway from the onslaught of the Prussian Infantry during the Franco - Prussian war.
Open edition print. Image size 24 inches x 15 inches (61cm x 38cm). Price £40.00
Open edition print. Image size 12 inches x 8 inches (31cm x 20cm). Price £14.00
Limited edition of200 giclee canvas prints. Image size 40 inches x 28 inches (102cm x 71cm). Price £500.00
Limited edition of 200 giclee canvas prints. Image size 30 inches x 20 inches (76cm x 51cm). Price £390.00
ITEM CODE DHM0451
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Tel El Kibir by Alphonse de Neuville.
The Black watch are shown clambering over a large ditch and onto the Ramparts against a 5 gun redoubt heavily defended.
Open edition print. Image size 32 inches x 18 inches (81cm x 46cm). Price £46.00
Open edition print. Image size 17 inches x 12 inches (43cm x 31cm). Price £37.00
ITEM CODE DHM0380
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Siege of Sebastopol, by Alphonse de Neuville.
The British assault on the Redan failed but the French under General de Mac-Mahon managed to seize the Malakoff redoubt making the Russian defensive position untenable.
Open edition print. Image size 17 inches x 12 inches (43cm x 31cm). Price £20.00
ITEM CODE DHM0806
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The Defense of Rorke's Drift by Alphonse De
Neuville. Text supplied by Zulu War Author Ian Knight.
By about 6pm the Zulu attacks had extended all around the front
of the post, and fighting raged at hand-to-hand along the mealie-bag wall.
Lieutenant Chard himself took up a position on the barricade, firing over the
mealie-bags with a Martini-Henry, whilst Lieutenant Bromhead directed any spare
men to plug the gaps in the line. The men in the yard and on the front wall were
dangerously exposed to the fire of Zulu marksmen posted in the rocky terraces on
Shiyane (Oskarsberg) hill behind the post. Several men were hit, including
Acting Assistant Commissary Dalton, and Corporal Allen of the 14th. Surgeon
Reynolds treated the wounded as best he could despite the fire. Once the veranda
at the front of the hospital had been abandoned, the Zulus had mounted a
determined attack on the building itself, setting fire to the thatched roof with
spears tied with burning grass. The defenders were forced to evacuate the
patients room by room, eventually passing them out through a small window into
the open yard. Shortly after 6pm Chard decided that the Zulu pressure was too
great, and ordered a withdrawal to a barricade of biscuit boxes which had been
hastily erected across the yard, from the corner of the store-house to the front
mealie-bag wall. In this small compound the garrison would fight for their lives
throughout most of the coming night.
The VC Winners: Lieutenant J.R.M. Chard,
R.E.; Lieutenant G. Bromhead, 2/24th;
Surgeon J.H. Reynolds, A.M.D.; Acting Assistant Commissary J.L. Dalton, C. &
T.D.; Corporal Allen, 2/24th; Corporal C.F. Schiess, N.N.C.; Privates F. Hitch,
A.H. Hook, R. Jones, W. Jones, J. Williams, 2/24th.
The DCM Winners: Col. Sgt.
F.E. Bourne2/24th; 2nd Corp. F. Attwood, A.S.C.; 2nd
Corp. M. McMahon, A.H.C.;Wheeler J. Cantwell, R.A.; Pte W. Roy, 1/24th.
Saving the Queens Colours at the Battle of Isandhlwana by
Alphonse De Neuville Depicting Lieutenant T. Melville attempting to Save the
Queens Colours of the 1/24th at the Battle of Isandhlwana.
Last Sleep of the Brave by Alphonse De Neuville
Scouts find the bodies of Melville and Coghill with the colours
nearby. In fact, the Colours were lost in the river and were found later, both
men were posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
Le Cimitiere De Saint Pravat by Alphonse De
Neuville Prussian troops storm the Cemetery of Saint Pravat after a desperate
defence.
Surprise attack in the Suburbs of Metz by
Alphonce de Neuville. French skirmishers engaging Prussians during an attack in Metz during
August 1870.
Captive Difficile by Alphonce de Neuville
A lone French soldier is herded into captivity after being captured
during the Franco Prussian war.
La Defence de la Longbayau by Alphonse De
Neuville French infantry struggle to defend a large gateway from the onslaught
of the Prussian Infantry during the Franco - Prussian war.
Tel El Kibir by Alphonce de Neuville
The Black watch are shown clambering over a large ditch and onto the
Ramparts against a 5 gun redoubt heavily defended.
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