After my adventures with the Troop 54 Crimean Foreign Legion figure I am carrying on with the other foreign legionaires in my stash. Next up is the Beneito Foreign Legion officer in Mexico, which is a very nice old mini that I've had for a few years.

I haven't broken it this time (good old metal!) and it's all prepped, primed and ready to be painted. I like to anoint my painted figures with one of those snazzy name plates from NameIt and was about to fill out the form with my desired text and date when I hit the slough of despond.

I always considered that this figure was the legion in Mexico during the Maximilian adventure and I never read the date info on the box until now. Beneito dates this figure as 1835. But I thought the legion was in Spain at that time and the uniform certainly looks much later. I would put the date as 1863. Sort of Camerone era. I don't want a name plate that reads "1835 but more likely to be 1863".



This picture is from the Beneito website. Maybe I just need a history lesson. Can any of our experts advise? What date would you put on this one?

1835
Fusillier Légion Etrangère


1863

Looks to be the later period, Steve. If you can, have a peruse of the Martin Windrow book of Uniforms of the French Foreign Legion with illustrations by Mike Chappel, it shows the officer in 1863, Mexican Adventure. Sorry, I can't post up pictures, being tecchie incompetent

Alan

can be consulted here
https://archive.org/details/uniformsoffrench00wind

Well done, Kev,....cavalry to the rescue again

Alan

Thank you very much, I knew I could rely on you. I think the verdict is 1863.

As you've probably noticed I'm doing my Foreign Legion thing at the moment. Once the Mexico guy is painted I shall be moving on to the Atelier Maket figures as follows:



Grenadier de la Légion en Espagne 1835 (Yes, 1835!)



Voltigeur Légionnaire Ètrangére 1830



Légionnaire 1st RE 1883



Légionnaire 1870

I hope you're suitably impressed by my acute and grave accents. I've even learned how to spell Légionnaire. I am really looking forward to doing the 1870 figure, I love 19th century French infantry carrying all that kit and caboodle: pack, folded blankets, mess-tin, cooking pot, tent pegs, kitchen sink etc. It reminds me of the old Foreign Legion joke.

Légionnaires Leblanc and Lebel are marching through the desert, loaded down with kit. The hot sun is beating down on them. They talk:

Leblanc: "Hey, Lebel. Why did you join the legion?"

They march on for a minute or so...

Lebel: "To forget"

They march on for a minute or so...

Leblanc: "Forget what?"

They march on for a minute or so...

Lebel: "I don't know, I've forgotten"

A superb comic strip in french about the legion in Mexico ( already 5 vol )

The first one c ver and page 3

Hi Steve

I painted that Beneito figure back in the day. Being a bit of a FFL buff, I'd say it was definitely from the 1860s. I no longer have it (painted for a commission) but I have a pic somewhere which I'll pop up later.

Phil

My version of Beneito MV-037, painted in oils and done in 1997. Now residing in Canada


Phil

Those Felix Meynet comic books look good. And published by Casterman, the same guys who did Herge's Tintin. This reminds me of schooldays, we had the Tintin books in the school library. French language edition to help us improve our French. I am ashamed to say I mainly looked at the pictures.

There is a guy on eBay selling a collector's edition of the comic books and I just happened to notice the very welcome influence of Alphonse de Neuville:


Felix Meynet


Alphonse de Neuville

The sincerest form of flattery? Or an easy way to meet your deadline? The pride of my book collection is a bound series of B+W Alphonse de Neuville drawings of the Franco Prussian War, printed circa 1890s. His influence on artists like Troiani is obvious.

Phil

A book of Alphonse de Neuville drawings! You lucky old so and so. I have the Copernic colour edition of his work purchased at vast expense from Foyles bookshop some years ago.

I think I may have seen the edition you have. My university library had a large format book of some antiquity which had B&W plates which had been hand coloured. The colouring must have been a special edition because there were sheets of onion skin paper protecting the drawings bound into the book. I wanted to borrow that book and never return it. Dark and evil thoughts!

I wonder how many of our fellows have got into the painting hobby by being inspired by artists like de Neuville or Edouard Detaille?

Steve, I'll post some pics of my volume. I bought it from an antiquarian bookseller quite a few years ago now. It has seen better days but the binding is secure and the plates are all fine. If you are into the French Army (as I am) it is a massive inspiration, and a goldmine for sculptors looking for reference.

Phil