Carl (de Bourdon) Hummel

This work is very impressive and well preserved. The colours are still bright and fresh. There is a split in the ivory at the lower left edge. This measures 10mm and can only be seen on very close inspection. In the background to the right there are one or two spots of water damage .
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Cette impressionnante miniature représente un officier de la cavalerie autrichienne dans un paysage boisé. Tenant de sa main gauche une épée, il dirige, de sa main droite, notre attention vers l’arrière plan où une bataille fait rage. L’œuvre est datée de 1805 et il a été suggéré qu’elle ait pu être réalisée pour commémorer la bataille d’Austerlitz. La bataille se déroula pendant le mois de décembre 1815 et fut l’un des engagements les plus décisifs des guerres napoléoniennes. Elle s’acheva avec Napoléon imposant une défaite cruciale aux armées du Tsar Alexandre 1er ainsi qu’à celles de l’Empereur du Saint Empire Romain: Francois II. 

Bien que nous ne connaissions pas l’identité du modèle, il était très probablement un soldat d’importance puisque son uniforme porte la décoration de l’ordre de Marie-Thérèse, un honneur décerné aux soldats ayant fait preuve de bravoure en temps de guerre. 

Carl de Bourdon Hammel est considéré comme un artiste ayant débuté sa carrière en Hongrie avant de s’installer à Vienne. Il était un artiste de grande renommée qui travailla comme peintre officiel de la femme de l’archiduc Joseph d’Autriche, La Grande Duchesse Alexandra Pavlovna de Russie. 

La miniature que nous présentons est un très bel exemple de son travail élaboré et raffiné. 

This impressive miniature depicts an Austrian Cavalry Office in a woodland setting. While in his left hand he holds a sword, with his right, he directs the viewer’s attention to the background where a battle rages. The work is dated to 1805 and it has been suggested that it may have been painted to commemorate the Battle of Austerlitz. The battle took place in December of that year and was one of the most important and decisive engagements of the Napoleonic Wars.  It resulted in Napoleon inflicting a crushing defeat on the combined armies of Tsar Alexander I and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II. Although the sitter’s identity in not known he may well have been a revered solider as his uniform is decorated with the badge of the Order of Maria Theresa – an honour which was awarded for outstanding bravery in wartime.  Carl de Bourdon Hummel is considered to have worked in Hungary early in his career before settling in Vienna. He was an admired artist who worked as the official painter to the wife of Archduke Joseph of Austria, Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia. The present miniature is a particularly fine and elaborate example.

Carl Hummel, Portrait of an Austrian Officer, Probably at the Battle of Austrelitz ; Watercolour and bodycolour on ivory, gilt-wood frame; Signed lower left: C. Humel. / 1805.