Quest: The Soldier

A few months ago I bought some pictures online. I believe there were seven or so and they were very different in type and style but they all had military history as a common subject. They were all printed except for one: a picture showing a soldier smoking and drinking.

The drawing is undated and unsigned. I have no idea how old it exactly is, where it is from and who drew it. The latter question is probably unsolvable but I think it should be possible to locate and date the drawing.

It is a great drawing but not flawless. The left hand holding the smoking pipe is out of proportion and the thumb is almost missing completely. This could of course be on purpose if the intention was to draw a soldier with a severed hand, but we will probably never know.

I’m not sure about the material used for drawing. It looks like pencil to me but it could be charcoal as well.

I started to check the paper if I could see any clues about its age. Apart from lines, which tell me it is so called laid paper, I also noted a watermark which states: D C P followed by a decorative sign.

Age

Laid paper was commonly used from the 12th(!) century through the beginning of the 19th century after which woven paper became the norm. Given this fact, I know the paper is at least from the 19th century. The uniform of the soldier indicates early 19th century, so I think I have an authentic drawing from that era. But I’m not 100% sure yet.

Origin

Determing where the drawing is from is a challenge. Which clues do we have?

• the uniform
• the pipe
• the glass and bottle
• the watermark
• the material used

The uniform could tell something about the origin of the picture. However, I’m not an early 19th century uniform expert and it looks like a very common Napoleonic era uniform to me. So I’ve asked for help in the Facebook group “19th Century Warfare and Wargaming“, which I’ve recently joined, because serious wargamers usually paint their units themselves and are really keen on details.
Konstantinos Travlos, the group owner, thought the period could be around 1816-1840 and indicates that because of the “bell top” shako, the uniform could be dated around 1816. He further states: “Epulates indicate a officer or a grenadier or voltiguer, leaning towards second. Potentially latin cultures“.

And he also provided quite precise guesses:

1) French 1816-1830 army, perhaps FFL (French Foreign Legion, red.).
2)Spanish line infantry in the 1820s-1830s
3) Latin American Wars of Independence
4) Sonderbund War (Swiss Civil War of 1847, red.)

Group member Geoffrey Coe adds that we’re probably dealing with a Portugese soldier, which is in line with Mr. Travlos pointing out it could be “latin cultures“.

Group member Rob Thompson points out the wrapping around the shako, indicating it could be Württemberger Light Infantry around 1808-1814. But he is in doubt because a typical trim on the coatee is missing. He adds that the shako is not as bell topped as they became in later periods and is dating the soldier around 1809.

I’ve checked the only book I own about this topic and period, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Military Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars, but after checking all shown uniforms and details I could not match it.
It is clear that we’re not dealing with a British soldier, looking at the shako.

The glass and bottle are also clues, about which Paul Bright, also a member of the forementioned Facebook group, states: “If the wine bottle is the correct shape it dates to around 1820-40, although if the artist isn’t great (which I think is the case, red.) it could be a little earlier”.
Mr. Travlos said about the glass that it is probably wine or sherry, ruling out Germans (famous for drinking beer of course).

The pipe could also tell something about date and location. Mr. Bright thinks, given the size and shape of the pipe bowl, we’re looking at second quarter of the 19th century. He hereby underlines his earlier statement about the bottle.

The watermark is probably one of the most important clues. I’ve tried to check it with big online databases like the Bernstein Memory of Paper database, but I didn’t get any match.

The material used maybe could also tell something, but I cannot distinct if it is pencil or charcoal.

First conclusions

Based on the feedback I’ve received from the members of the “19th Century Warfare and Wargaming” Facebook group we’re dealing with a soldier from the first quarter of the 19th century. I think everyone, including myself agree on that. Also I think we can assume that the paper is also from this period. So this looks like a contemporaine drawing.
There is no consensus about where the soldier and / or his uniform are from. I think a more indepth research is needed on the details of the uniform, the pipe and the glass and bottle. So I need to dig into that a bit more.
The watermark also needs more research and I’ll probably send the picture to the people behind the Bernstein project.

I didn’t try to contact the seller because I do not think they can tell anything about it since it seemed like they didn’t knew what they were selling.

If any of the readers have any ideas or tips, please leave a reply below!