Description

Keith's French Line Infantry Officer in Spain ca. 1810 was inspired by the story of Ludwig Scharf, a military history enthusiast in Germany during the Second World War. As Scharf tells it, he was visiting a coffee house in Frankfurt when he fell into conversation with another patron. Both men shared a lifelong interest in military history. The officer happened to have with him a family treasure, a sketchbook from Napoleonic times that his relative had kept. He was taking it to Berlin for appraisal.

Scharf became entranced with the detail and importance of these sketches of uniformed figures and asked if he might copy them down for himself. The officer agreed and Scharf set about copying the images, making notes of colors. The copies were made on the backs of his receipt book, as he had not brought proper paper with him. Scharf managed to copy many, but not all of the figures and planned to meet the officer at his hotel the next day.

In the hours before dawn, Scharf was awakened by air raid sirens, that sent him to find shelter from a prolonged RAF raid. When he emerged and searched for his companion's hotel, he found nothing but rubble. There was no sign of the officer or his sketchbook. Only Scharf's drawings remain.