Description

500 signed and numbered prints

In 1796, the revolutionary government of France launched a series of military campaigns they hoped would defeat the nations allied against their new republic.  While 27-year-old General Napoleon Bonaparte was conducting his hard-fought but ultimately glorious campaign in Northern Italy, his military and political rival General Jean Victor Moreau and the ill-clad and worn-out French Army of the Rhine and the Moselle desperately tried to stave off defeat at the hands of Austria’s able field commander Archduke Charles.  On 22 October 1796, Moreau ordered his tired but determined soldiers to stand on good defensive terrain near the Chateau of Schliengen (depicted in the right background), buying time for his supply of ammunition wagons to cross to safety over the Rhine River at Huninge.  In such dangerous situations, it was the duty of the hussars and other light cavalry to cover the movements of the army.

Artist Keith Rocco’s superbly composed painting not only captures the somber mood of that foggy, overcast day over 200 years ago, but also brings to life the hesitant tension of that lost moment.  Rocco, a student of the 19^th century Napoleonic artists, invokes his influences masterfully – his striking depiction of the horses, reminiscent of Meissonier, is so evocative that one can almost hear them snorting as their breath steams from their nostrils.  The overall atmosphere and rich feeling of the piece recalls the best work of Detaille.  For in Rocco’s “The Rear Guard”, the ambiance of defeat – and the exhaustion and grim determination of men preparing to make a last stand – has been magnificently captured.

About the 11^th Hussars:

The subject of the work, the 11^th Hussars, was raised during the Ancien Regime, from volunteers attracted to the glamorous life popularly attributed to the hussars.  Once again, Rocco’s research is superb.  Note the moustaches and pigtails worn by each trooper – while the moustaches were a stylistic statement, the pigtails, while adding to the dashing appearance, also offered some protection from saber cuts.  Other uniform details, such as the dolman and pelisse, as well as the blank mirliton are also highly accurate.

While the hussars would indeed fulfill their romantic promise of glory during the Napoleonic Wars, the battles of the revolution served as a trying apprenticeship.  Vastly under strength and poorly employed due to inexperience, the hussars were not yet an even match for the more professional light cavalry of Austria and Prussia.  But the hard lessons were being absorbed, and a nucleus of hardened veterans would emerge from the Revolutionary Wars to form the cadre of the great cavalry regiments that Napoleon and Murat would lead to immortality.

Matt DeLaMater, Editor in Chief-Napoleon Journal