Gustave LE GRAY (1820-1884)
Souvenirs du Camp de Châlons, 1857
Unique album of photographs offered by Emperor Napoleon III to General Camou and containing thirty-four (34) period albumen prints from wet collodion negatives , mounted on the pages of the album, all the prints bearing a photographer's stamp are distributed in the following order:
Portrait of Emperor Napoleon III
Portrait of General Jacques Camou (1792-1868)
Portrait of Commander Auguste Regnault de Saint-Jean d'Angely (1794-1870)
Portrait of Colonel Charles de Waubert de Genlis (1809-1859)
Portrait of General Claude Manèque (1812-1870)
Portrait of General Claude Théodore Decaen (1811-1870).
The Emperor and his staff in front of the imperial pavilion
The mass of October
General Fleury, Colonel Lepic, Lieutenant Champagny, Captain Friand in front of the imperial pavilion
The artillery of the Imperial Guard
The Zouaves of the Imperial Guard: instructions
The Zouaves' meal
Arab festival improvised by the Zouaves, reproduction of a painting by Bénédict Masson (1819-1893)
The Hundred Guards
Maneuvers of October 3, 1857
The story
Cavalry maneuvers
Troop maneuvers
Visiting the Châlons Camp
The music of the sappers and the voltigeurs of the Imperial Guard
Maneuvers: road in perspective
The toilet of the Zouaves
The quarter of the Zouaves of the Imperial Guard
The camp, Châlons
Camp scene
Bivouac fires, reproduction of a painting by Bénédict Masson (1819-1893)
The Emperor's table
Bivouac on the Suippe, the imperial quarter
The artillery quarter of the Imperial Guard
Zouaves of the Imperial Guard
Maneuvers and civilians
Maneuvers: cavalry of the Imperial Guard
Maneuvers: cavalry of the Imperial Guard
Maneuvers: artillery and mounted hunters of the Imperial Guard
Album sumptuously bound by Binant 7 rue de Clery in Paris, the spine in green morocco, the covers in green percaline, with the imperial arms, titled, dated and bearing in gold letters the name of the dedicatee on the first coverAlbum: H. 54.3 cm - L. 67.6 cmProofs of various formats: Portraits: n°1 to 6: H. 35 cm - L. 26 cm approx. Views of the camp and maneuvers: n°7 to 17 and 20 to 30: H. 27 cm - L. 36 cm approx. n°18 and 19: H. 15.3 cm - L. 33 cm n° 31 to 34: H. 13.3 cm - L. 18 cm
All very well preserved, some proofs (n°7 and 9) presenting the usual defec
In order to modernize his army, whose organizational deficiencies had been exposed by the Crimean War (1853-1856), Napoleon III decided to create a very large camp (10,000 hectares) for military maneuvers.
The choice of the so-called “pouilleuse” Champagne is essential due to the vast space offered, the flat character of the places, the low population density, the strategic location to the east and its relative proximity to Paris, which is also well served by the railroad. The Châlons camp, which takes its name from the town of Châlons-sur Marne, (which became Châlons-en-Champagne since December 1997) is in fact bordered to the north by Saint-Hilaire, to the east by Mourmelon, to the south by La Cheppe and to the west by Suippe. The camp was inaugurated on August 30, 1857 and Gustave Le Gray, accompanied by the history painter Bénédict Masson (1819-1893), stayed there in September and October 1857, in order to cover the splendor of the inauguration celebrations and above all to create a report on life in these places. Far from being ephemeral, the camp remained in activity until 1870, receiving visits from the Imperial Family every summer season.
Gustave Le Gray was close to Napoleon III whom he had portrayed as Prince-President in 1852, the first official portrait of a head of state produced by photography. In 1856 the photographer produced a series of portraits of Eugénie de Montijo in prayer, intended to serve as sketches for the Baptism of the Imperial Prince, a never-finished painting by Thomas Couture. The Emperor showed a keen interest in photography very early on, of which he also quickly understood the propaganda aspect. In the absence of archives justifying a state order, it is accepted by historians that Le Gray's work was an initiative of Napoleon III, directly financed from his personal funds. In the remarkable catalog of the BNF exhibition, Gustave Le Gray 1820-1884, Sylvie Aubenas underlines: “In fact the fourteen albums listed to date, linked to the imperial arms and to the names of the main officers of the Châlons camp, have all the appearance of a personal gift from the Emperor.
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