Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
French, 1848-1912
Jean-Baptiste Édouard Detaille (Paris 5 October 1848 – 23 December 1912 Paris) was a French academic painter and military artist noted for his precision and realistic detail. Detaille grew up in a prosperous military family in Picardy; his grandfather had been an arms supplier for Napoleon. An amateur artist who was friends with a number of collectors and painters, including Horace Vernet, Detaille's father encouraged his son's artistic endeavors. He began his artistic studies at age seventeen under the famous military painter Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier; he had originally approached him to ask for an introduction to the renowned Alexandre Cabanel but Meissonier decided to teach Detaille himself. Meissonier became a major influence on his style, and it was he who inculcated an appreciation for accuracy and precision in Detaille.
Detaille made his debut as an artist at the Salon—the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts—of 1867 with a painting of Meissonier's studio. At the Salon of 1868, he exhibited his first military painting, The Drummers Halt, which was based solely on his imagination of the French Revolution. With Repose During the Drill, Camp St Maur, which he debuted the following year, Detaille established his reputation as a painter. In the spring of 1870, he went on a "sketching trip" to Algeria with three other young painters, Étienne-Prosper Berne-Bellecour, Alexander Louis Leloir, and Jehan Georges Vibert.
Detaille enlisted in the 8th Mobile Bataillon of the French Army when the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870; by November he was seeing and experiencing the realities of war. This experience allowed him to produce his famed portraits of soldiers and historically accurate depictions of military manoeuvres, uniforms, and military life in general. He eventually became the official painter of the battles. He published a book called L'Armée Française in 1885, which contains over 300 line drawings and 20 color reproductions of his works. Detaille was one of the first artists to buy photographs from Eugène Atget.
In 1912, Detaille created new uniforms for the French army. They were never adopted by the Minister of War, but the blue-gray greatcoats would influence later French World War I uniforms, and the Adrian helmet was heavily influenced by his designs.
During his life, he had amassed an impressive collection of military uniforms and artifacts and bequeathed to the Musée de l'Armée in Paris following his death.
Detaille appears as a guest at a party at the home of the Princesse de Guermantes in Part Two: Chapter One of Marcel Proust's novel, Cities of the Plain, where Detaille is referred to as "the creator of the Dream", his 1888 painting also known as Le Rêve (The dream) which shows soldiers asleep on a battlefield dreaming of military glory. The painting, which is located at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.(Biography provided by Fremiot)
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Artist: Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
“On Alert”
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Southampton, NY
Original pen and India ink drawing on heavy card stock of French soldiers on horseback by the well known French military artist, Edouard Detaille. Signed lower left and dated 1882. ...
Category
1880s Academic Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper, Pen
Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), Three studies of horses, original signed Drawing
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)
Three studies of horses
16 x 10 cm
Pen and ink on paper
Signed lower left
The third study on the lower right has been ...
Category
1880s Academic Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), The Young Paperboy, signed watercolor
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)
The Young Paperboy
16.5 x 20.5 cm
Watercolor and brown ink on paper
Signed lower right
In good condition, the paper is slightly yellowed by time, some o...
Category
1880s Academic Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Ink
Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), A Carnival character, original signed Drawing
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)
A Carnival character and a Zouave
19.5 x 12.5 cm
Pen and ink on paper
Signed lower left with the initials (faded)
In a modern framing : 35 x 28 cm
T...
Category
1880s Academic Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), A trophy of arms, original signed Drawing
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)
A trophy of arms
11.5 x 20 cm
Pen and ink with heightenings of white gouache on paper
Signed and dated 1885 lower right and annotated "Armée française...
Category
1880s Academic Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), A Carnival scene, watercolor signed
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)
A carnival scene
21 x 16.5 cm
Watercolor and brown ink on paper
Signed lower right
Period frame : 35 x 30 cm (lacks in...
Category
1880s Academic Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
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Edouard Detaille (1848 1912) Soldier and riders, 1881, original signed Drawing
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A soldier and riders, 1881
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Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)
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- General writing using his hat as a writing desk and Hussar covered with laurels announcing the victory of Rivoli.
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This is a particularly interesting and original study because in this work the artist has endeavoured to draw the head of a horse from the rear viewpoint, that of the rider.
This is a drawing that the artist used to prepare his finished works; we see him at work here and we can better perceive his method of using studies taken on the spot to be as close as possible to reality.
We really have the feeling of being close to this horse chosen by the artist as a model.
Jean-Baptiste Édouard Detaille (Paris 5 October 1848 – 23 December 1912 Paris) was a French academic painter and military artist noted for his precision and realistic detail.
Detaille grew up in a prosperous military family in Picardy; his grandfather had been an arms supplier for Napoleon. An amateur artist who was friends with a number of collectors and painters, including Horace Vernet, Detaille's father encouraged his son's artistic endeavors. He began his artistic studies at age seventeen under the famous military painter Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier; he had originally approached him to ask for an introduction to the renowned Alexandre Cabanel but Meissonier decided to teach Detaille himself. Meissonier became a major influence on his style, and it was he who inculcated an appreciation for accuracy and precision in Detaille.
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1880s Academic Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
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Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), Seven historic and comic drawings, framed together
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1812)
Historic and comic drawings
Set of seven drawings in the same frame
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Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), A bourgeois and a nanny, two framed drawings
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1812)
A bourgeois and a nanny
Two drawings in the same frame
Black pencil and pen and black ink
11 x 6.5 cm and 15.5 x 6 cm
In the same frame on a green back...
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Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), Soldiers studies, seven drawings in the same frame
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Soldiers studies
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Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), Studies of horseguards, original Drawing
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Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)
Studies of horseguards
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Bears the monogram ED lower left
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Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), A Cavalier of the guard, original Drawing
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)
Cavalier of the guard
Pen and black ink on pencil
22 x 15.5 cm
Bears the stamp of the Estate of the artist on the lower left
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Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), Studies of Horse soldiers, three drawings
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Three studies of different type of horse soldiers in the same mount
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8 x 14 cm
9.5 x 8 cm
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The bigg...
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Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), A franco-prussian war soldier, original Drawing
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)
A franco-prussian war soldier
16 x 9 cm (view)
Signed lower right and dedicated "A mon ami Bouguereau" (to my friend Bouguereau)
Modern frame : 30 x 23...
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Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), A soldier at attention, Original Drawing
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)
A soldier at attention
dated 1879 and dedicated to his brother Henri (see below)
17.5 x 6.5 cm
Signed with the monogramm lower right
The paper is slighlt...
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1880s Academic Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), An 18th century soldier Original Drawing
By Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912)
An 18th Century French Soldier
9 x 14 cm
Signed lower right
The paper is slighltly yellowed but otherwise ink...
Category
1880s Academic Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
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