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Authors: Adam Zamoyski
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space of twenty-four hours, often in harness, like these drawn by Albrecht Adam on 29 June.
The territory through which the French were moving was criss-crossed by a multitude of rivers, most of which had to be forded. Here, Albrecht Adam shows Prince Eugène’s 4th Corps on 29 August crossing the river Vop, which was to prove a fatal obstacle on the way back.
In this print, made from drawings done on the spot by Faber du Faur, Russian light infantry can be seen fighting a rearguard action in the suburbs of Smolensk against German grenadiers of the Grande Armée.
French artillery facing Borodino on the afternoon of 5 September, by Albrecht Adam.
Russian prisoners being led away by French light infantry after the battle of Borodino, by Faber du Faur.
General, later Prince and Field Marshal, Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov, named commander-in-chief of the Russian armies as their continuous retreat threatened disintegration. This etching by Hopwood clearly shows his sagging right eye, the result of a musketball passing through his head and severing the muscle behind it.
The field of Borodino, sketched on the morning after the battle by Albrecht Adam. Not until the first day of the Somme in 1916 were so many to be killed in a single day’s fighting.
French soldiers looting as Moscow burns, by Albrecht Adam. The group at the centre provide a good illustration of the extraordinary range of objects taken from the houses and palaces of the gentry, most of which would be jettisoned along the road during the retreat.
Looters at work and surviving inhabitants among the ruins of Moscow, by Faber du Faur. Note the tin roof lying up-ended at the centre of the picture. These roofs were lifted in one piece and sent flying up into the air by the rush of hot air generated as the houses they covered went up in flames.
Count Fyodor Vassilievich Rostopchin, Governor and destroyer of Moscow, intelligent, cultivated, and possibly mad, by Orest Adamovich Kiprensky.
The troops passed their time as best they could in the ruins of the burnt-out city, waiting for Napoleon to decide on the next move, as this group, sketched by Faber du Faur on 8 October, shows. The weather was growing cold, which is why the sentry is wearing his greatcoat. Two of the card-players are wearing the bonnet de police , the forage cap worn off-duty.
A gloomy French sentry watches over the burnt-out suburbs of Moscow, a lithograph by Albrecht Adam after a sketch made on the spot which epitomises the hollowness of the French victory.
The roadside between Mozhaisk and Krimskoie, sketched on 18 September by Faber du Faur. Stragglers and wounded shelter in the corner of a stove, all that remains of a wooden dwelling, whose occupants’ corpses were calcinated when it was burnt down. By all accounts, this was the picture all along the road travelled by the Grande Armée, and is characteristic of conditions in its rear.
As the French cavalry’s horses perished, they were replaced by the little local ponies, with ludicrous results in the case of cuirassiers and carabiniers such as these, who were specially selected for their height and were supposed to be mounted on large horses. Pen, ink and wash by Faber du Faur.
Armand de Caulaincourt, drawn here by Jacques Louis David, was a wise and devoted friend to Napoleon, whom he had consistently discouraged from invading Russia, foreseeing the worst.
As this lithograph from a drawing by Faber du Faur shows, even the bridges over the Kolocha at Borodino in the Grande Armée’s rear had not been cleared of the dead and debris of battle.
Three irregular cossacks enjoying a meal, by Jean-Pierre Norblin de la Gourdaine.
Lieutenant Aleksandr Chicherin of the Russian artillery made this sketch of himself writing his diary on 2 October while his comrade S.P. Trubetskoi looks on. Although they were in despair at the abandonment of Moscow, the Russians were beginning to realise that the French were in worse condition
The territory through which the French were moving was criss-crossed by a multitude of rivers, most of which had to be forded. Here, Albrecht Adam shows Prince Eugène’s 4th Corps on 29 August crossing the river Vop, which was to prove a fatal obstacle on the way back.
In this print, made from drawings done on the spot by Faber du Faur, Russian light infantry can be seen fighting a rearguard action in the suburbs of Smolensk against German grenadiers of the Grande Armée.
French artillery facing Borodino on the afternoon of 5 September, by Albrecht Adam.
Russian prisoners being led away by French light infantry after the battle of Borodino, by Faber du Faur.
General, later Prince and Field Marshal, Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov, named commander-in-chief of the Russian armies as their continuous retreat threatened disintegration. This etching by Hopwood clearly shows his sagging right eye, the result of a musketball passing through his head and severing the muscle behind it.
The field of Borodino, sketched on the morning after the battle by Albrecht Adam. Not until the first day of the Somme in 1916 were so many to be killed in a single day’s fighting.
French soldiers looting as Moscow burns, by Albrecht Adam. The group at the centre provide a good illustration of the extraordinary range of objects taken from the houses and palaces of the gentry, most of which would be jettisoned along the road during the retreat.
Looters at work and surviving inhabitants among the ruins of Moscow, by Faber du Faur. Note the tin roof lying up-ended at the centre of the picture. These roofs were lifted in one piece and sent flying up into the air by the rush of hot air generated as the houses they covered went up in flames.
Count Fyodor Vassilievich Rostopchin, Governor and destroyer of Moscow, intelligent, cultivated, and possibly mad, by Orest Adamovich Kiprensky.
The troops passed their time as best they could in the ruins of the burnt-out city, waiting for Napoleon to decide on the next move, as this group, sketched by Faber du Faur on 8 October, shows. The weather was growing cold, which is why the sentry is wearing his greatcoat. Two of the card-players are wearing the bonnet de police , the forage cap worn off-duty.
A gloomy French sentry watches over the burnt-out suburbs of Moscow, a lithograph by Albrecht Adam after a sketch made on the spot which epitomises the hollowness of the French victory.
The roadside between Mozhaisk and Krimskoie, sketched on 18 September by Faber du Faur. Stragglers and wounded shelter in the corner of a stove, all that remains of a wooden dwelling, whose occupants’ corpses were calcinated when it was burnt down. By all accounts, this was the picture all along the road travelled by the Grande Armée, and is characteristic of conditions in its rear.
As the French cavalry’s horses perished, they were replaced by the little local ponies, with ludicrous results in the case of cuirassiers and carabiniers such as these, who were specially selected for their height and were supposed to be mounted on large horses. Pen, ink and wash by Faber du Faur.
Armand de Caulaincourt, drawn here by Jacques Louis David, was a wise and devoted friend to Napoleon, whom he had consistently discouraged from invading Russia, foreseeing the worst.
As this lithograph from a drawing by Faber du Faur shows, even the bridges over the Kolocha at Borodino in the Grande Armée’s rear had not been cleared of the dead and debris of battle.
Three irregular cossacks enjoying a meal, by Jean-Pierre Norblin de la Gourdaine.
Lieutenant Aleksandr Chicherin of the Russian artillery made this sketch of himself writing his diary on 2 October while his comrade S.P. Trubetskoi looks on. Although they were in despair at the abandonment of Moscow, the Russians were beginning to realise that the French were in worse condition
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