Édouard Detaille

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Édouard Detaille
Le Rêve (1888)
MovementAcademic art

Jean-Baptiste Édouard Detaille (French: [ʒɑ̃batist‿edwaʁ dətaj]; 5 October 1848 – 23 December 1912) was a French academic painter and military artist noted for his precision and realistic detail. He was regarded as the "semi-official artist of the French army".[1]

Biography

Education and early career

Detaille was born in Paris and grew up in

Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier; he had originally approached him to ask for an introduction to the renowned Alexandre Cabanel but Meissonier decided to teach Detaille himself. Meissonier became a major influence on his style, and it was he who inculcated an appreciation for accuracy and precision in Detaille.[2]

Detaille made his debut as an artist at the

Alexander Louis Leloir, and Jehan Georges Vibert.[2]

Franco-Prussian War

Detaille enlisted in the 8th Mobile Bataillon of the

uniforms, and military life in general. He eventually became the official painter of the battles. He published a book called L'Armée Française in 1885, which contains over 300 line drawings and 20 color reproductions of his works.[citation needed
]

Detaille was one of the first artists to buy photographs from Eugène Atget.[4]

Later life

Test uniforms created in 1912 by Édouard Detaille for the French line infantry. From left to right: trumpet in parade uniform, private in service uniform and kepi, private 1st class in parade uniform, private in service uniform and leather helmet, officer in parade uniform, officer in service uniform and bonnet de police (side cap), private in field uniform and leather helmet, private in field uniform and kepi.

In 1912, Detaille created new uniforms for the French army. They were never adopted by the

Minister of War, but the blue-gray greatcoats would influence later French World War I uniforms, and the Adrian helmet was heavily influenced by his designs.[5]

During his life, he had amassed an impressive collection of military uniforms and artifacts. He bequeathed the collection to the

Musée de l'Armée
in Paris following his death in 1912 in Paris.

Literary references

Detaille appears as a guest at a party at the home of the Princesse de Guermante in Part Two: Chapter One of

Le Rêve which shows soldiers asleep on a battlefield dreaming of military glory. The painting, which is in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, also appears in Paintings in Proust by Eric Karpeles, published by Thames & Hudson
.

Family

His niece married Charles Otzenberger, who subsequently called himself Otzenberger-Detaille.

Gallery

  • Print by Detaille, 1885
    Print by Detaille, 1885
  • Cavaliers de remonte Commis - Cavriers Secretaire et Infirmiers, 1887
    Cavaliers de remonte Commis - Cavriers Secretaire et Infirmiers, 1887
  • Grenadier of the Old Guard
    Grenadier of the Old Guard
  • Vive L’Empereur!, 1891
    Vive L’Empereur!, 1891
  • The Battle of Fontenoy
    The Battle of Fontenoy
  • Le Rêve, 1888
    Le Rêve, 1888
  • Les grenadiers à cheval à la bataille d'Eylau : Haut les têtes (le colonel Lepic), 1893
    Les grenadiers à cheval à la bataille d'Eylau : Haut les têtes (le colonel Lepic), 1893
  • Carabiniers à Cheval en Russie, 1893
    Carabiniers à Cheval en Russie, 1893
  • En Reconnaissance, 1876
    En Reconnaissance, 1876
  • Sortie de la garrison de Huningue
    Sortie de la garrison de Huningue

See also

Further reading

  • Humbert, Jean. Édouard Detaille : l'héroïsme d'un siècle, Paris, Copernic, 1979.
  • Masson, Frédéric. Edouard Detaille and his work, Paris, Boussod, Valadon and co., 1891.
  • Duplessis, Georges. M. Édouard Detaille, Paris, J. Claye, 1874.

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-55595-029-3
    .
  2. ^ a b c Artfact. "Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)". Grove Art excerpts. Oxford Art Online. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  3. ^ "Art". The Nation. 93 (2479). New York, NY: New York Evening Post Company: 21. 2 January 1913.
  4. ISBN 978-3-8365-0471-3
    .
  5. ^ Dean, Bashford (1920). Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare. Yale University Press. p. 9.

External links

Media related to Édouard Detaille at Wikimedia Commons

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