- Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville
Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville (
May 31 ,1835 –May 18 ,1885 ) was a FrenchAcademic painter who studied underEugène Delacroix . His dramatic and intensely patriotic subjects illustrated episodes from theFranco-Prussian War , theCrimean War , theZulu War and portraits of soldiers. Some of his works have been collected by theHermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and by theMetropolitan Museum inNew York .He was born to wealthy parents at
Saint-Omer , France. From school he went to college, where he took his degree of "bachelier ès-lettres". In spite of the opposition of his family he entered the naval school atLorient , and it was there, in 1856, that his artistic instincts first declared themselves. After being discouraged by several painters of repute, he was admitted to work inFrançois-Edouard Picot 's studio. He did not remain there long, and he was painting by himself when he produced his first picture, "The Fifth Battalion of Chasseurs at the Gervais Battery" (Malakoff). In 1860 Neuville painted an "Episode of the taking of Naples by Garibaldi" for the Artists' Club in the rue de Provence, and sent to theParis Salon in 1861 "The Guard Chasseurs in the Trenches of the Mamelon Vert".He participated in illustrating the Hetzel editions of "
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ". He also illustrated "Le Tour du monde" and Guizot's "History of France" ("illustration, left"). At the same time he painted a number of remarkable pictures: "The Attack in the Streets of Magenta by Zouaves and the Light Horse" (1864), "A Zouave Sentinel" (1865), "The Battle of San Lorenzo" (1867), and "Dismounted Cavalry crossing the Tchernaia" (1869). In these he showed peculiar insight into military life, but his full power was not reached until after theFranco-Prussian War . He then aimed at depicting in his works the episodes of that war, and began by representing the "Bivouac before Le Bourget" (1872). His fame spread rapidly, and was increased by "The Last Cartridges" (1873, "illustration, right"), in which it is easy to discern the vast difference between the conventional treatment of military subjects, as practised byHorace Vernet , and that of a man who had lived the life that he painted.In 1874 the "Fight on a Railroad" was not less successful, and was followed by the "Attack on a House at Villersexel" (1875) and the "Railway Bridge at Styring" (1877). In 1878 the painter exhibited (not at the
Great Exhibition ) "Le Bourget", the "Surprise at Daybreak", "The Intercepted Despatch-bearer", and a considerable number of drawings. He also exhibited inLondon some episodes of theZulu War . Fifty thousand people paid to see his impression of "The Defence of Rorke's Drift" (1880), which the infant Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney paid a large sum to acquire.In 1881 he was made an officer of the
Légion d'honneur for "The Cemetery of Saint-Privat" and "The Despatch-bearer". During these years Neuville was at work withÉdouard Detaille on an important though less artistic work, "The Panorama of Rézonville". Neuville died inParis onMay 18 ,1885 . At the sale of his works the state purchased for thePalais du Luxembourg the "Bourget" and the "Attack on a Barricaded House", with a water-color "The Parley", and a drawing of a "Turco in Fighting Trim".ee also
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Military art References
*1911
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