Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
The Attack at Dawn
(18th and 19th Centuries )
The scene is a French town in the Jura region, near the Swiss border. As a bugler sounds the alarm, French troops (Algerian riflemen and members of the Garde Mobile) rush from an inn to defend themselves from the advancing Prussians. Rather than dwelling on France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), de Neuville, a veteran of the war, specialized in works glorifying his country's heroic resistance rather than its military defeat. He took exceptional efforts to re-create the subjects factually, revisiting the battlefields and studying the weapons, uniforms, and other paraphernalia of war.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Purchased by Goupil et Cie., Paris, possibly on May 31 1878; purchased by Wallis and Son, London, June 30 1878 [1]. Purchased by William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1877-1878; by inheritance, Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894; by bequest, Walters Art Museum, 1931.
[1] Goupil et Cie Stockbook 9, Stock no. 12781, Page 163, Row 7
Exhibitions
| 2014-2016 | From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 1999-2000 | Vive la France! French Treasures from the Middle Ages to Monet. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 3/31/1943 | Treatment | coated; other |
Measurements
H: 57 11/16 x W: 87 3/8 in. (146.5 x 222 cm); Framed H: 80 1/2 x W: 110 x D: 7 3/4 in. (204.5 x 279.4 x 19.7 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by William T. Walters, ca. 1878
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.40