- Guards behind Breastwork, Cavalry Maneuvers
- From the series Souvenirs du Camp du Châlons
Sheet: 11 5/16 × 14 5/16 in. (28.7 × 36.4 cm)
Mount: 20 13/16 × 25 1/8 in. (52.9 × 63.8 cm)
Explore Further
For six weeks in 1857, 25,000 men from the French Imperial Guard, renowned for their victory in the decisive battle of the Crimean War two years earlier, conducted exercises under the command of Napoleon III to inaugurate a vast military camp at Châlons-sur-Marne. Gustave Le Gray was commissioned to photograph the camp, the inaugural events, and the officers. Far from the chaos of real battle and the unfamiliarity of foreign terrain, this regiment of cavalry silhouetted in the early morning mist could easily be mistaken for a battalion of toy soldiers.
ProvenanceFrom "Souveniers du Camp de Chalons" , auctioned at the Institut Clairval, June 4, 1994, (Marc Pagneux, expert) by Lelievres, Paris.
Bought by Manfred Heiting from Galerie de Chartres 6/3/1990.
Exhibition History"Nineteenth Century French Photography", The Chrysler Museum, 1983; "Gustave Le Gray", J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1988.
"WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 11 November, 2012 - 3 February, 2013.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in pencil, mount recto, upper right corner: 37
[no verso inscriptions]
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.
There are no works to discover for this record.