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ART “4” “2”-DAY 29 July v.8.50

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DEATHS: 1898 MICHELENA — 1890 VAN GOGH

BIRTHS: 1824 JOHNSON — 1883 SPADINI — 1862 REID — 1799 BLECHEN

^ Born on 29 July 1824: Jonathan Eastman Johnson, US painter and printmaker who died on 05 April 1906.
— Between 1840 and 1842 he was apprenticed to the Boston lithographer John H. Bufford [1810–1870]. Johnson's mastery of this medium is apparent in his few lithographs, of which the best known is Marguerite (1870). In 1845 he moved to Washington DC, where he drew portraits in chalk, crayon and charcoal of prominent US personalities, including Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams and Dolly Madison (all 1846). In 1846 he settled in Boston and brought his early portrait style to its fullest development.
His chiaroscuro charcoal drawings, of exceptional sensitivity, were remarkably sophisticated for an essentially self-trained artist. In 1848 he went to Europe to study painting at the Düsseldorf Akademie. During his two-year stay he was closely associated with Emanuel Leutze, and painted his first genre subjects, for example The Counterfeiters (1855). He then spent three years in The Hague, studying color, composition and naturalism in 17th-century Dutch painting. The influence of the Dutch masters on his portrait style was so great that he was called ‘the American Rembrandt’.
In 1855, after two months in Thomas Couture’s Paris studio, he returned to the US. He then turned his attention to US subject-matter. He made studies of Indians in Wisconsin, and painted portraits while in Washington (e.g. George Shedden Riggs, 1855) and Cincinnati. He finally settled in New York.

— LINKS
— Self Portrait (1885; 53x43cm; 800x648pix, 81kb _ ZOOM to 1590x1287pix, 296kb) his eyes are hidden in a deep shadow under an eyeshade.
— In the Field (45x70cm; 527x800pix, 79kb _ ZOOM to 1350x2048pix, 289kb)
— The Little Convalescent (1885; 53x43cm; 800x694pix, 112kb _ ZOOM to 1536x1332pix, 373kb)
— Winnowing Grain (1885; 53x43cm; 800x681pix, 96kb _ ZOOM to 1550x1320pix, 308kb)
— Writing to Father (1863, 30x23cm; 800x623pix, 55kb _ ZOOM to 1598x1246pix, 322kb) _ Eastman Johnson's early career parallels that of the slightly younger Winslow Homer, with whom he was compared for much of his life. Both were initially trained as lithographers in Boston and produced their first significant works in black and white. Both went to Europe at critical points in their artistic development (Johnson studied in Düsseldorf and the Hague as well as visiting Paris). And both came to national attention with images depicting aspects of US life affected by the Civil War. Unlike Homer, however, who spent the better part of several years following the Union troops and produced many scenes of camp life, Eastman Johnson made only two or three brief trips to the battlefield. Most of his Civil War pictures depicted slaves or centered on the home front. In the latter, the tragedy of the war was measured by the cost to the children left behind. In this tiny, cozy picture, a little boy is laboriously writing. He has obviously just mastered his letters, and is concentrating intently. The union army cap placed prominently on the chair at left signals a father away at the war. The pathos of the scene is underscored by the gray cadet's uniform the child wears, in homage to his absent father, and by the chair in which he sits, a painted fancy chair with writing arm whose bulky proportions emphasize his smallness. In the charcoal study for this picture the child appears even younger than he does here. The image focuses more tightly on him; both the room's middle-class furnishings and references to the conflict (the cadet's uniform and the poignantly solitary cap) were added as Johnson expanded his design.
— The Chimney Corner (1863, 39x34cm; _ ZOOMable)
— Vinnie Packard (1882, 61x51cm)
— The Funding Bill (1881, 154x199cm)
— The New Bonnet (1876, 53x69cm)
— Corn Husking at Nantucket (1875, 70x138cm)
— The Hatch Family (1871, 122x186cm)
— Christmas-Time, The Blodgett Family (1864, 76x63cm)
— Lighting His Pipe (24x19cm)
–- General Henry Sewall (1844, 54x38cm; 696x486pix, 31kb _ .ZOOM to 1114x779pix, 93kb) _ .detail (864x1152pix, 234kb): head and shoulders _ monochrome brown
–- The Eavesdropper (1865, 31x38cm; 490x624pix, 36 kb _ .ZOOM to 980x1249pix, 209kb)
–- The Brown Family (1869, 98x82cm; 688x577pix, 42kb _ .ZOOM to 1101x923pix, 100kb _ .ZOOM+ to 2260x1900pix, 887kb)
–- The Pension Claim Agent (1867, 64x95cm; 718x1095pix, 78kb _ .ZOOM to 1436x2200pix, 433kb _ .ZOOM+ to 2872x4400pix, 1848kb)
–- What the Shell Says aka What the Sea Says (1875, 56x43cm; 698x528pix, 23kb _ .ZOOM to 1164x880pix, 64kb)
–- A Day Dream (1877, 61x31cm; 716x358pix, 23kb _ .ZOOM to 1194x597pix, 47kb _ .ZOOM+ to 2455x1237pix, 467kb)
–- Woman in White Dress (1875, 57x36cm; 735x454pix, 26kb _ .ZOOM to 1225x756pix, 65kb _ .ZOOM+ to 2448x1512pix, 628kb)
–- Old Kate's Bridge, Ulster County (1872, 46x77cm; half~size, 113kb _ .ZOOM+ to full size, 635kb)
–- A Different Sugaring Off (1865, 43x81cm; 1/4 size, 31kb _ .ZOOM to 637x1224, 88kb _ .ZOOM+ to full size, 629kb)
–- The Mother (1870, 39x33cm; 715x575, 30kb _ .ZOOM to 1072x861pix, 50kb) she is breast-feeding her baby.
— The Old Stagecoach (1871)
— The Cranberry Harvest on the Island of Nantucket (1880)
— 113 images at the Athenaeum
—(060728)

Died on a 29 July:

^ 1942 Wojciech Kossak, Polish painter born on 31 Dec 1856
— Samosierra (430x600pix, 61kb)

1914 Caroline Therese Friedrich, Dresden German artist born on 20 October 1828.

^ 1973 Max Gubler, Swiss painter who after 1957 suffered from mental disease, stopped painting after the death of his wife in 1961, and spent his last years in a hospital. He was born on 26 May 1898. — I had wondered whether he ever painted a turkey. Searching for examples of his artwork on the Internet had turned out to be a wild goose chase for me, so I didn't know whether there is a Gubler gobbler. But Urs and Eva Wild e-mailed me from Zürich on 14 September 2003: “Not a turkey but many Pheasants !!!!!! : http://www.maxgubler.ch/large/max_gubler_l_2155.jpg ”. Well, judge for yourself; if you think that it is a turkey, wild or not, you are entitled to your opinion.
     The Wilds also indicated the Gubler web site. It includes a biography and images of many paintings, from Landscape (Burghoelzli) (1917, 59x74cm; 473x592pix, 26kb) to Hanging Pheasant (1957, 114x118cm; 592x450pix, 35kb) — Lying Pheasant (1957, 88x116cm; 420x592pix, 30kb) — Lying Pheasant (1957, 97x130cm; 444x597pix, 48kb) — Lying Pheasant (1957, 50x61cm; 444x552pix, 50kb). In my opinion, those lying pheasants are not lying about being pheasants, nor is the hanging one; but, again, if you want to call them wild turkeys, that is your privilege.

1898 Arturo Michelana, Venezuelan painter born (full coverage) on 16 June 1863.

1890 Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter born (full coverage) on 30 March 1863. —(070328)

^ 1870 James Baker Pyne, English painter born on 05 December 1800. He was articled to a Bristol attorney, but about 1821 he took up painting and exhibited at the Bristol Gallery of Arts in 1824. Apparently self-taught, he worked closely with the Bristol artist Samuel Jackson [1794–1869] for a time and was influenced by the poetic landscapes of Francis Danby. In 1835 he moved to London and exhibited at the Royal Academy the following year. He showed seven pictures there altogether, but he also exhibited at the British Institution and showed 206 works at the Society of British Artists. Although technically accomplished, Pyne’s work is curiously lacking in distinction. He imitated many artists but never found a style of his own. His early views of Bristol are among his best work, a good example being View of the Avon from Durdham Down (1829). He also painted some lively coast scenes such as Whitby. He was less successful when emulating J. M. W. Turner. At first sight some of his views of Venice and the Swiss lakes could be mistaken for Turner’s work but, though skilfully painted and often very decorative, they do not have the original vision and the brilliant control of light and atmosphere of the artist he admired. — Relative? of William Henry Pyne [1769 – 29 May 1843] of London? — LINKS
— Zurich (76x138cm)
— San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice (104kb)
— Coniston Water, Lake District (1850)
–- S#> View of Arundel Castle from the River Arun (1841, 32x45cm; /S#*>ZOOM to 900x1288, 153kb) deceptively titled: the castle is almost lost in the distance and the fog.

1854 Pierre Duval Le Camus (or Duval-Lecamus), French painter born on 14 February 1790. A student of Jacques-Louis David, he pursued an uninterruptedly smooth career, which was almost banal in its lack of deviation in inspiration or style. He showed regularly in the Salon between 1819 and 1853, immediately gaining attention with his first exhibited painting, the Game of Piquet between Two Invalids (1819). Far from being an innocent genre scene, it alludes to the plight of the veterans of Napoléon’s armies during the Restoration. It is one of the few paintings by Duval Le Camus in which a political meaning is suggested. His interiors generally depict a familiar and anonymous reality in the tradition of Martin Drolling, although he was less skilful than Drolling in the rendering of objects and effects. Duval Le Camus was a guileless and unaffected narrator. Throughout his career he painted genre scenes in the Dutch style, showing a genuine talent as a popular storyteller (e.g. Gossiping Porter and Little Chimney Sweep). Unlike Louis-Léopold Boilly he did not seek to amuse but to be sincere. Duval Le Camus depicted the games and minor dramas of childhood several times with the simplicity of Chardin (e.g. The Reprimand).
— La nourrice (467x579pix, 91kb) many cracks, in need of restauration.

^ 1649 David Teniers I, Flemish artist born in 1582. After an apprenticeship to his brother Juliaan Teniers I [1572–1615], David Teniers I went to Rome where he was active for some time between 1600 and 1605 and was certainly in contact with Adam Elsheimer. By 1605 Teniers had returned to Antwerp, where he became a master in the Guild of Saint Luke. A significant number of his monumental history paintings were destined for churches in eastern Flanders. Those that survive, primarily altarpieces painted between 1615 and 1620, such as the Saint Amelberga triptych (1615–1618), the side panels of the Transfiguration triptych (1617) and The Agony in the Garden (1617), show clear connections with Rubens’s classicizing tendencies from the same period. On the other hand, these works also betray the influence of Caravaggio, which Teniers acquired while in Italy, particularly in the emphasis on the contrast between brightly lit and, as a result, vigorously modeled sections and hard, impenetrable shadows. Several monumental paintings by David Teniers I survive, but he is best known for his small-scale cabinet pictures, both religious and secular, often set in a landscape. He apparently painted a significant portion of his oeuvre to pay debts, which extended over many years and even led to his imprisonment.
— David Teniers I was the father and a teacher of David Teniers II [15 Dec 1610 – 25 Apr 1690], Juliaan Teniers II [1616–1679], Theodoor Teniers [1619–1697], and Abraham Teniers [01 Mar 1629 – 26 Sep 1670]; and grandfather of David Teniers III [10 Jul 1638 – 10 Feb 1685]
— Hendrick Sorgh was a student of David Teniers I.
— Village Feast (720x1033pix, 130kb)
–- S#> Via Crucis (119x96cm; 368x294pix, 23kb) _ The landscape, clouds, and certain figure types are very close to those in The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau (1611) of David Teniers I.

Born on a 29 July:

^ 1889 Ubaldo Oppi, Italian painter and draftsman who died on 25 October 1946. — {Was he an oppitimist or a pestimist?}— In 1906 Oppi abandoned the commercial training for which he had been sent from Vicenza to Vienna and attended a number of Gustav Klimt’s classes. He also studied anatomical drawing, before traveling through Germany and the Balkans (1908–1909). The resulting Symbolist works were exhibited at the Ca’ Pesaro, Venice, in 1910. The following year he moved to Paris, where he studied the works of the Italian Old Masters at the Musée du Louvre and met Severini and Modigliani. An anxious social criticism characterized the works that he exhibited at the Galerie Paul Guillaume (e.g. Figures in a Bar, 1913).
     During World War I Oppi was wounded, captured, and imprisoned at Mauthausen, near Linz, where he produced such highly charged drawings as The Soldier’s Family (1918). On returning to Paris, he exhibited crisply classical paintings at the Salon des Indépendants in 1921 (e.g. Portrait of the Artist with His Wife, 1920), although many of his works remained disturbing. In Milan he joined the Sette Pittori del Novecento but ‘betrayed’ the group by showing independently at the Venice Biennale of 1924. The success there of his disquieting double portrait The Friends (1924) coincided with a second prize at the Pittsburg International Competition (1924) in the USA. The disconcerting Ingresque purity of such subsequent works as The Three Surgeons (1926) encouraged comparisons with the paintings of German Neue Sachlichkeit artists. In 1928–1932 Oppi painted frescoes of the Life of Saint Francis in the chapel of S. Francesco in Il Santo, Padua, which anticipated much of the mural art of the 1930s. In 1930 he had a show of his early works at the Galleria Il Milione, Milan, and two years later returned to Vicenza, where for the rest of his career he painted more innocuous nudes and landscapes.
— La storia di Ubaldo Oppi è la storia della sua pittura, dei suoi tre momenti fondamentali di captare una personale visione del mondo, e di manifestarla con opere che sono tutto il suo essere, tutta la sua capacità, tutta la sua volontà. Agli esordi, la pittura di Oppi si avvicina al simbolismo e al divisionismo per poi evolversi, con il recupero della forma, verso un primitivismo in linea con l’atmosfera parigina dell’epoca. Con gli anni Venti Oppi inaugura una nuova e fervente stagione artistica: rientra da Parigi nel 1921 e partecipa, l’anno successivo, alla fondazione del gruppo del Novecento riunito intorno a Margherita Sarfatti. Nel 1924 espone alla Biennale, con una sala personale, venendo meno ai suoi impegni con il neonato gruppo dal quale è obbligato a ritirarsi immediatamente. Il 1922 segna l’anno della svolta pittorica con l’inizio della nuova stagione classica: le sue figure prendono forma tridimensionale, non sono più le esili e timide figure dei momenti precedenti, esse divengono potenti, eroiche e protagoniste. In questa classicità elegiaca l’artista afferma sempre di più la sua propria meditazione esistenziale. In uno stile nitido ed oggettivo ispirato alla fotografia, vicino allo stile anti-emotivo della nuova oggettività tedesca egli vuol sottrarre l’uomo e le cose dalla fugacità della vita per dar loro vita eterna e migliore. Ecco un’arte che sì parte dal vero, ma lo domina, lo scioglie e lo ordina per creare qualcosa che gli sia più durevole e consolante, della fugace realtà.
–- S#> Il Figlio dell'Armatore (1925, 127x93cm; 900x665pix, 62kb) _ Nell’algido Figlio dell’armatore ritratto in questo grande dipinto, non vi è nessun intento di pittoricismo. La figura è sbalzata con uno stile duro e un tracciato nitido in un intento di realismo, oggettività e particolarismo attento. L’abito moderno, i tratti del viso, le vene della mano destra, la pressione e la rigidità della sinistra “aggrappata” al davanzale sono i dettagli veristi ai quali l’artista dedica più attenzione per rendere la composizione al massimo del realismo. Usufruendo del sottinsù, l’artista vuol far apparire Il figlio dell’armatore in una grandezza eroica, silenziosa ed interiore, accentuata dalle due infinite colonne, ispirate ai capolavori dei maestri antichi e dal paesaggio calmo e quasi metafisico che si apre dietro il davanzale. La realtà temporale viene tramutata nell’atemporalità silenziosa dell’eternità. “Ma il ricordo della realtà, poco durevole e poco consolante, aleggia ancora nello sguardo severo della moglie e della sorella, nella gravità del Figlio dell’armatore e dell’Ingegnere meccanico, nella sensualità senza sorrisi delle Amiche.
— Donna alla finestra (1921; 572x484pix, 34kb)
— Ritratto di ragazzo (1928, 46x37cm; pix, 15kb) _ In quest'opera, eseguita alla fine degli anni '20, Oppi abbandona la solennità e la freddezza di certi ritratti dipinti all'inizio del decennio. Sceglie piuttosto un clima quotidiano e famigliare, mostrando una nuova vena realistica. Non più dunque modelli che richiamano la statuaria antica, come ad esempio in Nudo alla finestra, ma un ragazzo in carne e ossa, con le orecchie grandi e sporgenti, il naso leggermente adunco e un lieve strabismo degli occhi. La pennellata, piuttosto morbida, definisce l'ovale del volto, le spalle e il collo del giovane, facendo risaltare la bellezza e la freschezza del motivo. Anche la gamma cromatica adottata non ha più nulla dei toni freddi e squillanti usati in passato. L'artista opta per un sapiente accostamento di tonalità calde, riprese nei colori del prato e delle case sullo sfondo, in grado di creare un piacevole effetto visivo. Non si deve pensare tuttavia a una fase di sviluppo artistico cronologicamente successiva ai modelli cinquecenteschi e idealizzati di alcune tele degli anni precedenti. Sempre nel '28, ad esempio, l'artista realizza Nudo tizianesco. Egli accosta nella sua produzione più modi pittorici, talora compresenti, lasciandosi ispirare di volta in volta dal motivo.

1883 Armando Spadini, Italian painter who died (full coverage) on 31 March 1925.

1862 Robert Lewis Reid, US painter who died (full coverage) on 02 December 1929.

^ 1849 Edward Theodore Compton, British painter specialized in the Alps, active in Germany and Austria. From 1883 to 1912 he was the principal illustrator of the magazine of the Deutscher und Österreichischer Alpenverein. He died in 1921. His children Edward Harrison Compton [11 Oct 1881 – 06 Mar 1960], Marion Compton, and Dora Keel Compton became painters. — Als Autodidakt beginnt Compton 1863 mit den ersten Naturstudien, besucht Kunstschulen in England und geht schließlich nach Deutschland. Zuerst in Darmstadt ansässig, zieht er 1869 nach München um. Seit 1874 wohnt Compton in Feldafing am Starnberger See. Die Reiseeindrücke des Berner Oberlandes fesseln ihn so stark, dass die Alpine Landschaft sein bevorzugtes Motiv wird. Weitere Reisen in die Schweiz, nach Tirol, nach Spanien, Korsika, Nordafrika und Norwegen folgen. Einen Namen macht sich Compton mit seinen Werken des 'Forum Romanum' (1877), 'Matterhorn' (1880) und mit 'Die Gipfelstürmer' (1888). Compton kann mit seinen lichtdurchfluteten Landschaften den Impressionisten zugeordnet werden. Neben seinen Ölgemälden entstehen viele Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, die oft in der Literatur des Deutschen und Österreichischen Alpenvereins zu finden sind. Zahlreiche Werke sind in den Zeitschriften 'Über Land und Meer', in der 'Leipziger Illustrierten Zeitschrift' und in den 'Meisterwerken der Holzschneidekunst' als Xylographieren veröffentlicht worden. Compton übt mit seinen Werken einen großen Einfluss auf andere Alpenmaler wie Ernst Heinrich Platz und Karl Arnold aus. Selbst seine Kinder Dora und Edward Harrison Compton setzen den Weg Ihres Vaters als Bergmaler fort.
–- S#> Findelen Icefall (1886, 47x57cm; 711x900pix, 78kb)
–- S#> Vom Hotel Post aus (26x24cm; 900x815pix, 108kb)
— (An Alpine Town, Snowy Peaks Beyond) (425x741pix, 103kb)
— Wolfendorn an der Tirolgrenze Landshuterweg (1880, 47x67cm; 338x500pix, 46kb)
— Der Winklerturm von der Vashütte aus (1909, 66x46cm; 503x350pix, 69kb) almost monochrome

^ 1838 Etienne Prosper Berne-Bellecour, French artist who died on 29 November 1910. — Relative? of Jean-Jacques Berne-Bellecour [1874–]? — Born in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Berne-Bellecour was a student of François Picot and Félix Barrias at l’École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He began his career painting portraits and landscapes and, after 1868, concentrated mainly on the military and hunting scenes for which he earned his extensive reputation. He was exhibiting at the Paris Salons by 1869 and received several medals and accolades in the years to follow, including a gold medal in 1889. There are numerous prints after the artist’s paintings done during his lifetime, and he often worked in conjunction with contemporary journalists.
     Berne-Bellecour enlisted in the Franc-Tireurs de la Seine during the Franco-Prussian War, and his interest in military subjects dominated his body of work after that experience. Many of his clients were high-ranking French officers during the 1870s — {Pas de Belle Cour à Berne, et bien peu d'autre de lui dans l'internet.}
— /S#*>La Halte (10x15cm; _ /S#*>ZOOM to 900x1449pix, 249kb)
— L'Attaque (1874, 61x104cm)
— L'appel après la bataille (415x650pix, 103kb)
— Soldiers Conversing (26x30cm; 382x450pix, 48kb)
— The French Sailor (1880, 36x26cm; 500x387pix, 40kb)
— Le Chasseur (1880 drawing, 28x22cm; 641x512pix, 49kb)
— Un Coup de Canon (print; 185x333pix 17kb) _ About the original painting after which the print was made, Zola wrote: “sa toile célèbre Un coup de canon fonda sa réputation au Salon de 1872; il n'a jamais rien peint de mieux. Le tableau représente une partie des fortifications de Paris; un canon est chargé et un des artilleurs vient d'allumer la mèche; les autres soldats, se dressant sur la pointe des pieds, contrôlent la trajectoire du boulet. Les principaux mérites de cette scène sont la vérité des attitudes, la finesse de l'observation et, avec cela, l'émotion inhérente à la composition.”

1799 Karl Blechen, German painter who died (full coverage) on 23 July 1840.

^ 1792 Peter Heinrich Lambert von Hess, German painter who died on 04 April 1871. Peter von Hess is known for his genre and history paintings. At the age of 15, he and his younger brother Heinrich left Dusseldorf with their family and came to Munich. There he studied at the Academy from 1809 to 1814, soon however distancing himself from supporters of the classical.
     As a young painter he captured the campaign battles against Napoleon (12 battle pictures at Project 1812). In 1816 and 1817 he undertook a study trip to Italy, during which time he discovered his stylistic preference for combing Italian landscape with rustic genre scenes. In his genre-landscapes Hess moved toward a sort of Biedermeier realism, which was, in equal measure, true to nature as well as idealized. In 1820 he was named Bavarian Court Painter. In 1824 he was one of the founding members of the Munich Kunstverein (artist guild), which soon became a forum for a more civic minded approach to art.
     Hess was a popular painter of battles and historical scenes and painted extensive battle cycles for Munich's King Ludwig I, as well as for Czar Nicholas I in St. Petersburg. Today his monumental scenes often seem to be overtly theatrical; however, on closer look, they hold a certain fascination due to their very precise attention to detail.
— The Berezina Crossing on 28 November 1812 (1845, cm; 519x800pix, 146kb)
— Greek Peasant Women by a Well (1839, 32x27cm)
— Picking the Grapes (1818, 34x43cm)
— Einzug König Ottos von Griechenland in Nauplia (1835, 269x415cm; 450x700pix, 129kb)
— Empfang König Ottos von Griechenland in Athen (1839, 250x415cm) _ detail (509x700pix, 204kb)
— Griechische Landleute am Meeresstrand (1838)
— Die Schlacht bei Borodino (1843, 224x355cm; 498x800pix, 171kb _ detail 1: 383x700pix, 35kb _ detail 2: 400x476pix, 46kb) _ This painting shows simultaneously several episodes in the battle of 07 September 1812. Depicted in the left-hand corner of the panorama is the episode when the Izmailovsky and Lithuanian Regiments entered the fray. Despite furious attacks the French were unable to shift those Life Guards from the positions they held for 13 full hours. In the center of the canvas is the wounded General Bagration, the commander of the left wing of the Russian army. The officer on the white horse is General Konovnitsyn who has just assumed command. Here, at the Semionovsky gully, the fighting began at five in the morning. The defense of the fortifications known as Bagration's fleches was so stubborn that until noon all the French assaults on them floundered with terrible losses. After prolonged artillery bombardment from 150 guns, Ney, Davout and Murat attacked the Semionovsky gully and the fleches in tremendous strength. The divisions led by Vorontsov and Neverovsky were thrown back and smashed. Bagration and the French marshals time and again took and retook positions strewn with the bodies of men and horses.
      Napoleon directed 400 cannon against Bagration's fleches, more than two-thirds of his artillery. He gave orders for a new all-out assault on the positions. The French grenadiers hurled themselves at the fortifications with arms at the ready. They did not return fire while the Russian bullets mowed them down. Prince Bagration admired the enemy for courage. During a new attack on the fleches he was mortally wounded. This was a fateful moment in the battle. The soldiers not only loved Bagration but also believed in his invincibility. "It was as if the spirit went out of the whole left wing after the death of that man," witnesses recalled.
      After the capture of Bagration's fleches, the second important episode in the Battle of Borodino was the contest for General Rayevsky's battery, located in the center of the Russian front. This artillery position changed hands several times. At two in the afternoon Napoleon gave orders to install artillery on what had been Bagration's fleches. Now Rayevsky's battery was being bombarded from three sides. The Russian artillery responded with intensive fire. Napoleon told General Beauharnais and units of Murat's cavalry to take the battery. The ensuing onslaught met with dogged Russian resistance. The wounded soldiers remained in the ranks. Both sides fought with a savage fury. Seeking to hasten the outcome, Napoleon ordered his cavalry to attack the Russian infantrymen of Count Osterman's corps. Badly concussed, Osterman was put out of action, but his men met the attack with such a hail of bullets that the attackers wavered. The guards hastened to the aid of the infantrymen and the assault was repulsed. Another storm of Rayevesky's battery followed, however. The French cavalry burst upon the position from the rear, while General Beauharnais's infantry mounted a frontal attack. A terrible slaughter ensued with no prisoners being taken on either side. This was the last great drama of the Battle of Borodino.
     Bonaparte took his forces from the battlefield before Kutuzov issued the order to withdraw. The Russian army fell back from Borodino to Moscow and beyond in complete order.
      In all the history of the world there are few battles to compare with Borodino. Napoleon destroyed almost half the Russian army and a few days later entered Moscow. Nonetheless, not only did he fail to break the spirit of the surviving part of the Russian forces, he did not either intimidate the Russian people, who at that very time, after Borodino and after the demise of Moscow, intensified their furious resistance.
— Ho Alexandros Ypselantes dierkhetai tou Proutho (450x325pix, 43kb) _ The Greek War of Independence began on 06 March 1821 when Alexandros Ypsilantis [1792 – 31 Jan 1828], the leader of the Philikí Etaireía conspiracy, crossed the Prut River into Turkish-held Moldavia with a small force of troops. Ypsilantis was soon defeated by the Turks (most decisively at Dragasani on 19 June 1821), but, in the meantime, on 25 March 1821 (the traditional date of Greek independence), sporadic revolts against Turkish rule had broken out in various parts of Greece.Within a year the rebels had gained control of the Peloponnese, and in January 1822 they declared the independence of Greece.
— Villa Palatina (1830 drawing)

^ 1629 Pieter van Bredael (or Breda), Flemish artist who died on 09 March 1719.
— (A market outside a town) (270x438pix, 28kb)

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updated Saturday 14-Jun-2008 20:59 UT
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v.7.20 Wednesday 28-Mar-2007 21:05 UT
v.6.60 Saturday 29-Jul-2006 19:24 UT
v.5.61 Friday 29-Jul-2005 5:42 UT
Saturday 17-Jul-2004 14:23 UT

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