Captain of Napoleon

Captain of the Napoleon’s Foot Grenadiers

One of several drawings from “La Vieille Armee francaise” (1820) or “La Vie politique et militaire de Napoleon” (Paris, 1826), showing infantry uniforms or “military exploits under the First Empire, which made [Charlet’s] work popular with the opposition under the Restoration and influential in the propagation of a mythic view of the Napoleonic era” (Oxford Art Online: Charlet, Nicolas-Toussaint).

The illustration shows a Captain of the Grenadiers a Pied (Foot Grenadiers, as opposed to cavalry) resting against a rock. His saber leans against the rocks by his side, wrapped in its strapping. He wears a brown overcoat over his uniform, and his black bicorne hat has gold bands and a black feather. He wears mutton chop whiskers, and appears to smoke a small pipe.

His uniform consists of white trousers, blue jacket with gold epaulettes and black boots with light tops. His gold gorget rests at the front of his jacket. A gold tasseled cord runs across his chest, supporting a tan gourd which may be a canteen. Two medals are on his jacket. Sketched in the distance is another soldier.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges