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Lot 177 - ATTRIBUTED TO CHRISTIAN ADOLF SCHREYER (1828 -1899) Study for "Charge of the Imperial Guard Artillery at Traktir in the Crimea, August 16, 1855". Original oil on canvas 37 x 77 cm. This is most probably the modelo for the painting exhibited at the Salon of 1865, now in the Musée d'Orsay (Musée du Louvre depot, inv. RF 440), measuring 202 x 429 cm (purchased from Adolf Schreyer, 1865). HISTORY On August 16, 1855, the Battle of Traktir Bridge took place on the banks of the Chernaya River in present-day Ukraine. The confrontation took place during the siege of Sebastopol, the main episode in the Crimean War between the Russian army and France, England, Piedmont and Turkey. The 3rd and 4th artillery reserve batteries, commanded by Colonel Forgeot, took up positions on the surrounding heights in the middle of the day. They faced the Russian infantry. Although within range of the enemy, the accuracy and speed of their fire enabled these battle-hardened units to rout the Russian army, which withdrew with heavy losses and missed its objective of lifting the siege of Sebastopol. This is the moment Adolf Schreyer chose to illustrate with a sublime movement by the horse artillerymen of the Imperial Guard. The artist was contemporary with the events. He accompanied the Austrian army to the Wallachian border near Crimea in 1854. A keen observer, his work shows an astonishing attention to detail. It is interesting to note the perfection with which he depicted the uniforms of the combatants, the artillery elite of Napoleon III's army, dressed in their dolmans and wearing their colbacks. Living in Paris since 1862, Adolf Schreyer exhibited at the Salon. In 1865, he presented his Charge d'artillerie. His ability to convey the intensity of battle scenes and capture the energy and movement of horses won him unanimous recognition. Critics were full of praise. Maxime du Camp, in his chronicle of the Salon for the Revue des Deux Mondes, rightly noted that Schreyer's painting "is a picture of full fire, movement and observation". Louis Auvray, director of the Revue Artistique, also points out: "What energy in the movements! what truth of feeling in the expressions! with what vigor the figures and horses are painted! This painting places M. Schreyer at the forefront of the Batailles painters." The painting on view at Orsay, unquestionably Adolf Schreyer's masterpiece, is one of the rarest and most prodigious depictions of the Crimean War, alongside works by Philippoteaux and Yvon. Awarded a medal at the Salon, the painting was acquired by Napoleon III for the Musée du Luxembourg. While the composition is already in place in our study, the artist completed the final canvas with a profusion of additional details: a horse corpse on the left, absent from our modelo, is present in the Orsay painting; a profusion of twigs and branches is added to the foreground of the final work; but the most poignant detail is undoubtedly the loose hand of the central rider, which could have shown a certain distress, and which Schreyer chose to paint as a closed point in the final painting, thus emphasizing the heroic conduct of our elite soldiers in the face of the most extreme adversity. oil on canvas, 15.5 x 30.3 in

Estim. 3 000 - 5 000 EUR