Chasseurs D’Afrique, Armee de Ligne , hand colored lithograph 1861

Chasseurs D’Afrique shows two bearded French soldiers from the Armee De Ligne or the Line Army. There is an officer in the foreground with his arms across his chest and a soldier standing in the background. The details of their yellow ochre uniforms are very well portrayed with medals , swords artillery, red ribbons, belts and black boots. In 1789, the French army had no more than 156,000 men. The Austrians and Prussians fielded at optimum wartime strength 497,000 and 195,000 men respectively. The French National Assembly called for volunteers in 1791, and by the outbreak of war, 220,000 men formed THE LINE ARMY and the National Guard.

Chasseurs D’Afrique is a hand-colored lithograph from the series Armee De Ligne. This series depicts the uniforms and dignity of the soldiers. This series of rare prints are published by Lemercier in Paris, 1861. In good condition with some water marks ,foxing and ripples.  This is an exceptionally executed image enhanced by the hand coloring on the original lithograph. Paper size is 30.75 x 22 image size 23.62 x 15.75.

Edouard Armand-Dumaresq was a French visual artist ( 1826- 1895 ). Many works by the artist have been sold at auction, including ‘The battle of Bender’ sold at Bukowskis, Stockholm ‘Autumn Classic Sale’ in 2013 for $32,953. Another of his paintings, The Signing of the Declaration of Independence is in the Cabinet Room of the White House.

Joseph Rose Lemercier (1803-1887 ) founded Lemercier & Co, a very successful Parisian firm of lithographic (and later photogravure) printers.