Saturday 3 September 2016

Aide Memoire

Marbot: "He looks nothing like me!"
Although the lancers are progressing, they're not quite ready for their show-and-tell session.

What I have instead is my latest French command figure. He's the David Clayton version of Hinton Hunt FN 371: Aide de Camp, holding a letter, on horse FNH 13. He's a beautiful casting. His horse is also very fine, albeit a little on the slim side.

Marcus Hinton didn't specify his identity, but for me there can be no doubt. He is Jean Baptiste Antoine Marcellin de Marbot, ADC and beau sabreur par excellence!

 Marbot poses for his close-up.
I chose him once I belatedly cottoned-on that my combined voltigeurs are going to need a commander every time they fight in close order. As it is likely to be only an occasional command, an Aide de Camp seemed the ideal choice.

He's painted almost exactly as recommended in Marcus Hinton's painting instructions (which the Hinton Hunter has published here). It's the uniform worn by the well-dressed ADC to a general in about 1810, if my interweb searches are anything to go by. Something very similar is also depicted in one of Fred and Liliane Funcken's books.

Just don't call me Gerard
Born in 1782 and eventually rising to the command of a brigade at Waterloo, Marbot would probably have remained in obscurity had it not been for the publication of his memoirs, to great literary acclaim, in 1891. In the words of the ever reliable Wikipedia, "to ordinary readers and to students of history alike, these give a picture of the Napoleonic age of warfare which for vividness and romantic interest has never been surpassed."

Very Flashy!

Indeed, Marbot's escapades were so sensational that their authenticity was immediately questioned, and to this day scholars doubt the veracity of many of his tales. They are also (in places, one suspects, unintentionally) extremely funny, and thus ripe for satire.

Certainly Arthur Conan Doyle thought so. The result, beginning in 1894, was a series of short stories published in The Strand magazine charting the outrageous exploits of one Brigadier Etienne Gerard, an officer in the Emperor's hussars. Gerard's outstanding character traits are vanity, indomitable courage, unshakable loyalty and the most amazing stupidity. His adventures, needless to say, are utterly glorious.

Brigadier Gerard was in turn a major influence on George McDonald Fraser's brilliantly funny fictional adventurer, Harry Flashman. There's also not a little of Marbot, I think, in Rik Myall's superbly over-the-top "Flasheart" character in the BBC Blackadder series.

I hope you like him.

WM

25 comments :

  1. He really looks the part Matt. Splendid photos and an interesting post. My own ADC is sat on the painting bench and will be receiving his uniform in due course - once I can work out who he will be that is!

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    1. Cheers, Ian. I thought it only fitting that he should appear in front of his great work! It's a rather battered 1905 edition I've been carting about for about 30 years. Now that I've got it out I suppose I ought to read it again. I shall look forward to your ADC with great interest.

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  2. Very nice job on this "beau sabreur "...

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    1. Thabk you Phil.

      I was intrigued to find out that Napoleon also thought he had some talent as a writer and left him 100,000 francs!

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  3. https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=marbot&view=detailv2&&id=BE70EF852C7CB7A451CD3973AAA998EF5FA362A3&selectedIndex=11&ccid=ClBoYG7J&simid=608040763205746699&thid=OIP.M0a5068606ec9080ee4498b69b35f73deo0

    And here is Marbot in his hussar pyjamas...very popular with the ladies!

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    1. I may do one like that, LG! ADCs are a bit confusing, I find. They've seem to have been kitted out according to their commanders' whims more often than not. I wonder to what extent the official get up was ever actually worn.

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  4. http://www.sierratoysoldier.com/ourstore/pc/catalog/FL_NAP/NAP0390_2(M).jpg


    And here in an ecological Green rig!!
    Must say I rather fancy painting him in white!

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    1. Actually, that is really rather fetching!

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    2. Yes , he is obviously the Marbot du jour, Bleu blanc ou vert.

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  5. Another lovely, shiny figure. Handsome too. . . And very dangerous. Gazing at your photographs I feel the urge to begin heading down the Napoleonic road once more and rekindle my long dormant 5mm Waterloo project, which, for me at least, would be sheer folly and lead to eventual madness. Still, a guy can dream, right?

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. You must resist, Stokes, and crack on with your incomparable 7YW dudes! I came within an ace of going down the same path, but was seduced at the last moment by those Hinton Hunt Prussians.

      Marbot was very hard to photograph due to being too flash by half. Most of the shots came out as a lot of shininess and very little Marbot.

      Ah yes, 5mm Waterloo! I too travelled down that particular road to ruin, but not too far. I've still got the French division I painted somewhere. I'll see if I can dig them out and stick them on the blog.

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  6. A beautiful looking figure

    Paul

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    1. Thank you, Paul. He's one of Marcus Hinton's finest, I think, although there is something very strange going on with the modelling of his turnbacks. I had to fudge it a bit!

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  7. A very impressive figure - your brushwork and gloss varnish finish really have bought out the best in him.

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    1. Cheers, Matt. When Marcus Hinton did them well, he did them very well. On other occasions....not so much.

      Your superb Airfix men make me very impatient to get away from the DK/HH bods for a bit and trying something completely different.

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  8. Oh come now mes braves, Ian is leaning towards the Boer war and now you speak of something completely different just when you have created the ultimate personality figure. He is brilliant and needs so much more than a voltigeur battalion to command. Ach Teufel, there go my lederhosen again.....

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    1. Marbot thanks you for your compliments, Archduke. He also expects to have more of a roving command in the future, as would only be right and proper for a man of his talents.

      Fear not, I'm not about to embark on space pixies or such-like abominations. The "completely differents" will still be 20mm Napoleonics. The lead pile is altogether too vast and shameful to think about anything else.

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    2. Space Pixies - now there's a thought...

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  9. Hmm. Could I could use my pearlescent acrylics on space pixies?

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  10. What can I say, just commented on the Polish Lancer flags which were brilliant and then this! Great blog and pictures. Congratulations

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  11. Matt, I'm struggling to find something different to post in response to your magnificent figure collection, you really are one hell of a talented painter and have a special touch for these old castings :)

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    1. 'Lee, any form of compliment from you is a compliment indeed. It was after seeing the troops you painted for Ian that I became well and truly hooked.

      You could always try chiding! I often think that after two years of doing this gig I've got very little to show for it. Phase 1 isn't even finished yet, and it'll only amount to about 350 figures!

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  12. That's a revealing comment, and I wonder how many of us share that perception. I am much more conscious of my huge lead pile than of the figures in the cabinets. I think the only way we can appreciate our own efforts is to line them up on the battle table and let some other blighter shoot them to bits. I doubt if anyone who contributes to your blog would agree that you have "very little to show for it". Apart from your wonderful figures, you have the length of this comment table to show for it. Ausgezeichnet sage ich Ihnen.

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    1. Thank you, Archduke. You are undoubtedly correct. I need to get them into battle!

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