Edouard Detaille

The Army Museum houses in its collections the studio collection of the military painter Jean-Baptiste Edouard Detaille (1848-1912), bequeathed to the State upon his death. From his early sketchbooks to monumental compositions, this collection offers a comprehensive view of the painter's art, as well as insight into the conception, technique, and aesthetics of the works of this artist, one of the most celebrated representatives of the French school of his time.

Édouard Detaille entered the studio of the painter Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891) in 1865; he then turned to historical painting, depicting the events he witnessed. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 provided him with numerous subjects for his compositions and the opportunity to create two panoramas on the battles of Rezonville and Champigny, in collaboration with Alphonse de Neuville (1836-1885) [1]. For these monumental works, the two artists sketched on location and worked from photographs. During the 1890s, the painter focused on subjects related to the Napoleonic era and the contemporary French army, for which he designed a new uniform project in 1912. His last commissions were monumental works, including one for the Budget Room in the Paris City Hall. He chose to represent a subject related to the armies of the Revolution and the Empire, of which [2]. Edouard Detaille had a distinguished official career: medalist at the Salons of 1869, 1870, 1872, 1888; Grand Prix at the Universal Exhibitions of 1889 and 1900; member of the Institute since 1892 and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour.

An active member of the Costume History Society, he amassed a collection of uniforms, equipment, and harnesses, which inspired his paintings. In his will dated March 24, 1912, he bequeathed his townhouse and all its contents to this society, on the condition that it be used as an exhibition space. However, after some difficulties, the collection finally entered the Army Museum in 1915. It includes, in addition to the artist's masterpieces, sketches and drawings, weapons and uniforms, as well as photographs reproducing the painter's works, which he commissioned almost systematically.

It should be noted that Édouard Detaille maintained close ties with the Army Museum since the creation of the Army Historical Museum in 1896 by La Sabretache, a society of which he was president [3]. The entire collection is displayed in a room entirely dedicated to him, on the ground floor of the East Wing, inaugurated on April 15, 1916, and renamed the "Detaille Room." This room "is one of the most important in the Army Museum. It preserves with reverence and gratitude the memory of the great artist in whose personality the modern history of the French Army was, in a way, synthesized" [4].

The work of Edouard Detaille reveals a meticulous technique, a sense of drawing, and a concern for documentary accuracy. This precision of the brush and this desire to remain faithful to reality constituted the great quality of Detaille's art, but also the main source of criticism of his art, at a time when pictorial research was moving towards new paths, breaking with academicism.

Laëtitia Desserrières, Iconography Department