First Chasseurette - Charlotte

Striking while the iron is hot, so to speak, I'm following up quickly on my post introducing Yara by showing you the "Hussarette" painting I  promised in that post. We'd set out to do our version of "The Chasseur's Lady" based on the 80mm miniature you can see on that post or here at metal-modeles nouveautes. I did a bit more research and found out these beautiful fantasy female figures were bought from UK company Phoenix Models and designed by exceptionally accomplished sculptor and artist Tim Richards. You can see, and buy, some of his lovely paintings of nude females at art gallery.co.uk. So it is a hard act to follow but that's part of the challenge of my Hussarette project. So here is my Charlotte - The Chasseur's Lady.

"Charlotte - The Chasseur's Lady, 1805"
Acrylic on canvas 14 inches x 10 inches

However, it wasn't till I got down to detail in planning the painting and looking up uniform references I realised what a conundrum the original Phoenix Pholly figure poses. I had assumed at first that she was wearing parts of the uniform of a Chasseur a Cheval of the French Imperial Guard - in fact the fur colback, bag, plume and raquettes are all fine. But if so that pelisse should be red, not green, and the boots should be black leather, not red. So we have a real fantasy chasseur here and I thought it better, if one is going to pay homage to a master, to stick with the original colours. Well, we all know French Chasseurs wore green uniforms but if so that should be a dolman not pelisse, unless she is from one of those few Line Chasseur Regiments which wore the green pelisse - some reader will no doubt remind us which they were.

The red boots reminded me of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman. In the style of Legatus Hedlius here's a pic of her

Luckily my lovely Eastern European models seem well equipped wth high heeled boots, so no problem there.

Here is a close up of the, umm,  face

Not a particularly good likeness of Yara, but she was putting on her serious military "Don't mess with me" expression and I found it too severe for a commercial painting. I hope you like this young lady. And if you think she looks too young remember Marshal Massena's mistress, Henriette Leberton, was, accordng to legend, only about 20 when she distracted him from properly conducting the Battle of Busaco in 1810 (fact suggests she was 32 but that spoils my anecdote!).  As an old man painting young flesh, I'm beginning to understand and sympathise with poor old Andre :-). He was 52 at the time!

Just to complete the picture here are the hands, sword hilt and cuff lace.

Comments very welcome.

My Chasseur's Lady stands 210mm, foot to eye, and is priced for sale as a unique original painting at a similar price per millimetre as the Phoenix miniature, only she is completely ready for display and will provide enjoyment for generations. Please contact me if you are interested in this one, or "Natasha", or in commissioning anything to your own specifications.

Wargamers, don't worry, next posting will be back to Waterloo with something equally spectacular - one of Kevin's 180 figure battalions.

Lady Hussars anyone?

Now for something completely different.........well, almost.......

Keeping a blog is fascinating as you have access to the statistics of visitors in various ways. My posting featuring light blue uniforms  - Lauzun's Legion  - has proved the third most popular of all the 25 posts I have made so far, showing that many of my audience has a liking for light blue uniforms. One of my art clients got into an email discussion with me about Marshal Massena's mistress, Henriette Leberton, whom Massena took on campaign "disguised" as a cornet of dragoons. However, both my client and I agreed that much more fetching military attire for a mistress in the blackpowder era would have been that of a hussar, and this led to speculation on my producing one or more Napoleonic style "pin-ups" to prove the point. In the end he commissioned  me with painting a pin-up in classic pose but put back 200 years or so and seated on a cannon instead  of a classic car and presented in the alternative Lauzun Legion officer's uniform of 1778 from Digby Smith and Kevin Kiley's "Uniforms of the American War of Independence, 1775-1783"

So for all you fans of light blue uniforms and tight red breeches I give you "Lucille of Lauzun's Legion"

I thought if I was to do this properly I needed to follow the example set by Detaille, Meissonier, Rocco, Troiani and other serious artists of military themes and acquire a uniform and authentic equipment, not to mention hiring a suitable model. So I did and since I like doing military paintings it seemed a good opportunity to take many reference photos of both male and female hussars which will stand me in good stead for the future. So now I'm well equipped to take more commissions and can offer almost any hussar, chasseur, light dragoon style uniforms in poses from battlefield action to off duty and even lady hussars wearing all or little of their uniform.

This can, in fact, become an adjunct to Imagi-Nation wargaming. If you've designed a natty uniform for your tabletop regiment why not commission a painting of its colonel for your wargaming room?

The  painting of Lucille is in acrylic on a smooth gessoed canvas ground and is 16 inches square, large enough to show good detail. It has already been sold to the client who won't mind me saying it was priced between £150 and £200. I expect that most future ones that I do will be smaller and they will start at about £80, but any size and price can be considered.

So if you have an interest in commissioning something hussar like, male or female, at war or at play, mounted or dismounted, please feel free to email me for more information without obligation at Chris Gregg . Of course I can do other military subjects too, as former CWJ readers will be aware.
Or, if you prefer I will be compiling a mailing list of anyone wishing to see future paintings of hussars or hussar ladies, so please email me if you'd like to be added to that list.
And failing that, comment on this blog to let her proud new owner know what you think of Lucille!

Some of my other military paintings can be seen here
Chris Gregg Military Paintings