as many of yours know I'm a Napoleonic fanatic...
one of my favourite things is take inspiration from painting to make my figures. It’s a job done in the past specially with some Murat portraits.
One of the most outstanding painting from the Napoleonic era is the Chasseur a cheval de la Garde from Théodore Géricault.
is a subject that is buzzing in my head since many years, I approached it many time and many time the project aborted.
I made a lot of research on this subject… before starting the job on the figure
There is a couple of sketch done by the artist before the final painting,

is in the 1812 salon that Gericault exhibited this painting and begins to assert his fame as a painter of horses: Lieutenant Dieudonné, of the guard imperial chasseur and friend of Gericault, has portrayed herself in a pose forced but extremely charming, a prancing horse with the rider turned to strike with the sword a hypothetical enemy coming from behind.
Here the famous final painting

Hi , I am also a big fan of Napoleonic period and will follow closely this thread. Will you do a conversion or scratch build a figure ? Thanks

hi Camo88,

let me some introduction to focus the subjects but I will do a scratch figure in 54 mm

Looking forward to see it the WIP....

Looking forward to your SBS on this one Ivo.
I thought that Pegaso allready made a figure based on this painting. (captain of the Hussars)

Marc

Ivo,
I look forward to watching you work. You are and inspiration.
Cheers
John

Hi Marc

Not really, Pegaso did a simple hussar captain not ispired fron this painting. More or less the same uniform but in a different pose and dinamic

Hi Ivo,

It will be a pleasure to see a master craftsman at work.

Rgds Victor

Ivo,
This is probably my favourite painting from this era. I was under the impression the painting was supposed to represent Eugene de Beauharnais (Napoleon's brother-in-law). Masterclass did a 54mm version of the painting that is very close to the painting (did the figure earlier this year and really enjoyed it).

I quite like your work that I've seen here and really look forward to you doing a detailed SBS on this subject, especially how you do the horse itself.

I will have my notebook ready for the first step

Colin

Didn't Andrea Miniatures does this in 90mm???

to continue the subject analisys
many people and many companies did this figure, I tried to understand the different interpretaion before starting my job...

Ray Lamb did the most famous version in Historex


Sheperd Paine did it in the 60

Italian Modeller Enzo Favaro did it 18 yeasr ago

Some commercial version sort during the years, the older is from Cerimonial studios

Art Girona did this version for Rome world expo
art girona
Masterclass sorted this figure, sculpted by Stefano Borin, always in Rome


The last addition to the market is this 90 mm Andrea Miniatures


after having bored you with the research... soon the horse start

Lt. Dieudonne (sp?) on the road to Moscow I believe. There is another portrait of Eugene in the uniform but not on rearing horse.

Colin

yes, the painting don't represent de Beauharnais but Dieudonnè.

this painting shows Lieutnant Dieudonnè from the chasseur a cheval Imperial Guard. He was a friend of the painter and here you can see the study for the painting

De Beauharnais was the son of Josephine, Napoleon wife and has been portrayed many time. The most famous mounted was from Schaeffer


others show him as colonel general of the guard chasseur

There have been many attempts to capture the movement and feel of this painting and all have fell short ,there is so much movement in the portrait and the background sets it off and makes the whole thing work.
Attempts to take it out the backdrop leave the figure in total isolation ,Ray Lambs effort was one of the best,Series 77 also done this one which I painted many moons ago, the weight of the thing pulled it down on its knees eventually Good luck Ivopreda look forward to your rendition

Ron

Ambitious project mate. Really looking forward to seeing the finished product.

I stand corrected... Learn something new every day.

Like the rest of us

Oakville Colin

I'm not afraid to learn from my elders

Scarborough Colin aka Colin the Younger

ok... it's time to start the figure ,
the horse come from Metal modeles range available in my spare parts area, pieces were cutted, drilled to insert pins ( 1 mm steel on the right and 1,5 mm steel on the left.

As you can see the left leg was modified to show the strange position choose by Gericault

The left pin don’t sort from the hoof but from the fetlock to be hidden on the base

Beautiful dynamic pose on the horse. This is going to work out great I think.