01 Work, The Art of War, Alphonse Marie de Neuville's Defense of Porte de Longboyau, at the Château de Buzenval, with footnotes

Alphonse Marie de Neuville a.k.a. Deneuville

Detail; Defense of Porte de Longboyau, at the Château de Buzenval, October 21, 1870, c. 1879

Oil on canvas

1,30 (w) x 0,86 (h) m / with frame: 1,74 (w) x 1,295 (h) m

Musée de l'Armée - Hôtel des Invalides

The Third Republic was a golden age for military painting. Painters responded to the trauma of the 1871 defeat with images, which were sometimes unforgettable, depicting the heroic and glorious actions of ill-fortuned combats.

Alphonse Marie de Neuville a.k.a. Deneuville

Defense of Porte de Longboyau, at the Château de Buzenval, October 21, 1870, c. 1879

Oil on canvas

1,30 (w) x 0,86 (h) m / with frame: 1,74 (w) x 1,295 (h) m

Musée de l'Armée - Hôtel des Invalides

Defense of the porte de Longboyau illustrates the recovery of a piece of artillery during the fighting that took place around besieged Paris, on October 21, 1870, as the French moved out to the area of Bougival-Sant-Cucufa. The Prussians drove back the French infantry from the grounds of Malmaison in the mid-afternoon, and the artillery pieces positioned by Captain Nismes in front of porte de Longboyau had to be abandoned, except for one piece, which was salvaged.

Captain Nismes and a handful of infantrymen fought until their last cartridges were used up.

Alphonse de Neuville was inspired by the battle, going on to create a painting with a vigorous composition that upheld the drama of the scene. With its remarkable staging, Longboyau is one of his masterpieces.

The war with the Prussians was fatal for the Second Empire. The annihilation of Napoleon III's armies in Sedan and then in Metz created a jolt of resistance against the failing regiments and against the occupant. Heroic combats delayed the invasion in the Paris and Loire regions up until the armistice on January 28, 1871. More on this painting

Alphonse de Neuville was one of those painters who was spared the difficulties often associated with the life of an artist. Only his premature death matches the cliché. Despite his sheltered youth, de Neuville was not an artist for pacifists; after all, he was born in a period of war and himself served as an officer in the French army.

The famous battle painter was born in 1836 in Saint-Omer, the son of a rich landed nobility. The small town is located on the northeast coast of France, not far from the famous port of Calais. De Neuville received a good school education and was not at all interested in painting during his childhood and youth, but showed great enthusiasm for the many technical achievements that began to change the world in the mid-19th century . This passion is also reflected in his professional aspirations. After obtaining his high school diploma, he decided to become an engineer and attended the Lorient Naval Academy. Here de Neuville not only cultivated contact with other cadets, but he also came into contact for the first time with scientists, philosophers and artists. The young Alphonse was particularly impressed by the history and portrait painter Francois Edouard Picot , whose student he eventually became. Picot maintains contacts with Parisian salons and introduces his student to these environments. This is also how he came into contact with Eugene Delacroix , an important pioneer of Impressionism. In his Parisian studio, de Neuville continued his artistic training and was able to present his first major work, "Episode of the Crimean War", to the Parisian public a year later.

He then began working as a designer for publishing houses and illustrated works by well-known authors such as Alexandre Dumas and Jules Verne. His career as an artist was interrupted in 1870/1871 by the Franco-Prussian War, in which he participated as an officer. The experiences of the war must have had a strong influence on him and therefore determined his favorite subject. In post-war Paris, he quickly progressed to become a highly respected battle painter. He received numerous awards for his work and was first made a knight, then an officer of the Legion of Honor. His patriotic style is part of the era of moral renewal that France experienced after the lost war, even if modern criticism often accuses the artist of glorifying war. His powerful and optimistic paintings are still admired today.

The best known are the two paintings "The Last Cartridges" and "The Cemetery of Saint-Privat", whose great success he owes to his admission to the Legion of Honor. More on Alphonse de Neuville

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