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The War of 1812 Through the Eyes of a Frenchman

The exhibition “The Russian Campaign of 1812” started on February, 20, in the Excursion and Exhibition Centre “The People’s House” of the National M.A.Sholokhov Museum-Reserve.

The exposition displays the lithographic pictures of a French artist Christian William Faber du Faur (1780–1857), who created a series of drawings about the campaign of Napoleon to Russia. In 1827 –1830, the drawings were engraved and in 1831 they were published under the title “My Briefcase Sketches Made on the Spot in the Russian Campaign”. This is the only edition of the album, an absolute bibliographic rarity. The opportunity to see the war of 1812 through the eyes of a French officer for the visitors of the People’s House was provided by a collector Igor Dubinin (Moscow).

The Lieutenant of the 25^th Infantry Division of Napoleon’s army, Faber du Faur, was an amateur artist; he meticulously depicted in his numerous sketches the events of 1812 – from the rapid intrusion of the French emperor’s regiments into Russia till their tragic retreat. The artist displayed a harsh military life, genre scenes and actual fighting events. In some engravings we can see structures and buildings, which were later destroyed, and we can get an idea of a great number of the lost memorials of history and culture.

The 98 lithographic pictures can be roughly divided into five sections, each being dedicated to a particular stage in the Napoleon campaign:” From the Niemen to Smolensk”, ”Smolensk”, ”From Smolensk to Moscow”, ”From Moscow to Smolensk” and “From Smolensk to Braunsberg”. The lithographic pictures are followed by the extracts from the artist’s personal diary.

The exhibition also displays a reconstructed soldier’s uniform of the 1812 war period, in particular, a uniform of a Cossack of the Life Guards of His Majesty Cossack Regiment of 1809, and postcards printed in Russia and France for the 100^th anniversary of the Patriotic War. These exhibits were provided by the Azov Historical, Archaeological and Palaeontological Museum-Reserve.

The exhibition opening ceremony was followed by the documentary “Cossack Roads of 1812”, made by the State Tele and Radio Channel “Don-TR” (by L.V.Rublyovskaya, director; L.A.Surkova, screenwriter; N.I.Chebotaryov, editor). The film is dedicated to the 200^th anniversary of the victory of the Russian People over Napoleon’s invasion and tells about a great contribution of the Don Cossacks into the defeat and driving out of the French army from Russia.

The exhibition runs till April, 21, 2013.

Valery Yemeliyanov