NAPOLEON'S LAST GRANDE ARMEE: 1813 French Uniforms

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Portraits from the Dresden & Freiberg Manuscripts of 1813. Illustrated by two German artists of the French troops in Saxony at these cities with 148 uniform plates.

During the summer armistice of the 1813 campaign, two German artists drew illustrations of the French troops stationed around Dresden and Freiberg in Saxony. The men depicted belonged to Emperor Napoleon's last Grande Armee, a colorful multinational force that included, among others, French, Dutch, Italian, and Polish soldiers.

These rare, exceptional paintings provide invaluable eyewitness evidence of the uniforms of the period, quite set apart from the sometimes fanciful, second-hand works of modern artists. Unlike many uniform plates, the illustrations in these two artists' portfolios show what Napoleon's men actually wore on campaign.

Nearly a century after they were first rendered, French historian and collector Gabriel Cottreau commissioned Charles Brun, one of the foremost artists of the era, to copy 98 of the original images from both portfolios. Sadly, many of the original uniform plates were later destroyed, lost, or disappeared into private collections.

In 2000, some of the original plates resurfaced and permission to publish them, along with the 98 Brun copies, was obtained. We are extremely pleased to offer a book featuring 148 uniform plates, including 50 original Freiberg plates, plus the entire Brun collection. This extraordinary publication includes new descriptive text in English by renowned uniformologist Alfred Umhey. Nearly every plate is presented at its full original size on heavy art paper along with the artist's original notes, translated for this edition.