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Napoleon's Army in Russia: The Illustrated Memoirs of Albrecht Adam, 1812
Published in association with the Anne S.K Brown Military Collection.
A Complete set of Albrecht Adam's evocative color plates of 1812 campaign.
In 1812 Napoleon's magnificent army invaded Russia. Among the half million men who crossed the border was Albrecht Adam, a former baker, a soldier and, most importantly for us, a military artist of considerable talent.
As the army plunged ever deeper into a devastated Russia Adam sketched and painted. In all he produced 77 color plates of the campaign and they are as fresh and dramatic as the day they were produced.
They show troops passing along dusty roads, bewildered civilians, battles and their bloody aftermath, burning towns and unchecked destruction. The memoirs which accompany the plates form a candid text describing the war Adam witnessed.
Attached to IV Corps, composed largely of Italians, he was present at all the major actions and saw the conquerors march triumphantly into Moscow. But, from then on, the invading army's fate was sealed and the disastrous outcome of the war meant that the year 1812 would become legendary as one of the darkest chapters in history.
This is a major and important new work and is destined to become a collector’s item.
The author, Jonathan North is a professional editor and a historian specializing in Napoleonic history. He spent a number of years in Eastern Europe before beginning a career in publishing in 1997. His publications include With Napoleon in The Illustrated Memoirs of Faber du Faur, In the Legions of The Memoirs of a Polish Officer in Spain and Russia, 1808-1812, The Napoleon Alternate Decisions of the Napoleonic Wars.
A Complete set of Albrecht Adam's evocative color plates of 1812 campaign.
In 1812 Napoleon's magnificent army invaded Russia. Among the half million men who crossed the border was Albrecht Adam, a former baker, a soldier and, most importantly for us, a military artist of considerable talent.
As the army plunged ever deeper into a devastated Russia Adam sketched and painted. In all he produced 77 color plates of the campaign and they are as fresh and dramatic as the day they were produced.
They show troops passing along dusty roads, bewildered civilians, battles and their bloody aftermath, burning towns and unchecked destruction. The memoirs which accompany the plates form a candid text describing the war Adam witnessed.
Attached to IV Corps, composed largely of Italians, he was present at all the major actions and saw the conquerors march triumphantly into Moscow. But, from then on, the invading army's fate was sealed and the disastrous outcome of the war meant that the year 1812 would become legendary as one of the darkest chapters in history.
This is a major and important new work and is destined to become a collector’s item.
The author, Jonathan North is a professional editor and a historian specializing in Napoleonic history. He spent a number of years in Eastern Europe before beginning a career in publishing in 1997. His publications include With Napoleon in The Illustrated Memoirs of Faber du Faur, In the Legions of The Memoirs of a Polish Officer in Spain and Russia, 1808-1812, The Napoleon Alternate Decisions of the Napoleonic Wars.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 7, 2022
Albrecht Adam was a German artist, born 1786, in Nördlingen (Swabia, Bavaria), who started out training to be a confectioner, in Nuremberg, before switching to the Academy of Fine Arts, and taking up painting. He was somehow involved in the Austrian campaign of 1809 - in what capacity and on which side, I don't know - before settling in Vienna, where he caught the eye of no less a personage than Eugène de Beauharnais.
Napoleon's stepson appointed Adam as his court painter, and in 1812 he was given an officer's commission, and attached to the Bavarian contingent of Napolon's Grand Armée as an official war artist for the invasion of Russia. He would later publish the resultant artworks as a memoir of the campaign, comprising 83 images. He worked to a ripe old age, mostly painting battlefield or equestrian scenes, often helped out in later years by his sons, eventually dying in Munich in 1862, aged 76.
Enchanted and fascinated by the tiny but tantalising reproductions, usually in monochrome, of the illustrated memoirs of Albrecht Adam and Faber du Faur, frequently reproduced in the numerous books on Napoleon's 1812 campaign I've been reading, I was thrilled when I discovered - at a Salute show several years ago - that both have been lavishly reproduced, in landscape format hardback. And what's more, both were selling at slightly reduced prices. So I snaffled them both up!
The only downside to Adam's account is that he left the campaign early, meaning that, unlike Faber du Faur, he doesn't document the slide into bedlam that was the retreat. But, in fairness to Adam, although one might well wish for more, that's because what there is is terrific. Whilst du Faur was with the artillery of the Wurttemberg contingent p, in Ney's III Corps, Adam - the former apprentice baker! - was with Eugene's IV Corps; hanging out mostly with the Italians, judging by all the Italian troops in his pictures. Actually, as already alluded to above, he was actually attached to the Viceroy's staff.
Like the Faber du Faur volume, and despite the two books appearing under the aegis of two different publishers, this work is superbly edited and translated by the very erudite and capable Jonathan North, who prefaces both accounts with short but comprehensive synopses of the whole 1812 campaign, also placing the authors within their particular contexts.
As mentioned above, Adam's narrative concludes early, in Moscow to be precise. At which juncture, thanks to a certain independence in his position, he's able to get leave to depart, before Napoleon and the army as a whole cave in to the seemingly inevitable, and turn for home. But, as most accounts, - including this one - make clear, the first signs of the Grande Armée's descent into ruin are apparent long before this point.
Adam supplies an epilogue outlining his return journey, and some reflections on the whole experience. And, unlike Faber du Faur's very similarly themed book, there's even a self-portrait, amongst the superb artworks collected here. All this serves to really flesh out the humanity of the story, and of Adams himself, who comes across as a very likeable character. When relating his meeting with friends and companions, old and new, including, in the quote below, some itinerant Jewish salesmen he meets on several occasions, his humanity comes across wonderfully:
'It may have pleased them that I showed none of the prejudice that is generally shown in society to the Jews. This was not hard for me; I have always seen only the human being in a man, without regard for religion, nationality, or class, and have always found it easy to make friends as soon as I recognise a good heart and fine feelings in anyone. This policy has never let me down.'
With that kind of reasonable outlook, it's no wonder he got out of the madhouse when he did!
Approx 28cm x 22cm, this is a somewhat smaller book than the otherwise quite similar Faber du Faur volume, also re-published around the time this came out, and has only 72 plates compared with the latter's 92. Print, paper, and binding quality, like the artwork and written content, are of a uniform and very high standard: brilliant stuff!
Napoleon's stepson appointed Adam as his court painter, and in 1812 he was given an officer's commission, and attached to the Bavarian contingent of Napolon's Grand Armée as an official war artist for the invasion of Russia. He would later publish the resultant artworks as a memoir of the campaign, comprising 83 images. He worked to a ripe old age, mostly painting battlefield or equestrian scenes, often helped out in later years by his sons, eventually dying in Munich in 1862, aged 76.
Enchanted and fascinated by the tiny but tantalising reproductions, usually in monochrome, of the illustrated memoirs of Albrecht Adam and Faber du Faur, frequently reproduced in the numerous books on Napoleon's 1812 campaign I've been reading, I was thrilled when I discovered - at a Salute show several years ago - that both have been lavishly reproduced, in landscape format hardback. And what's more, both were selling at slightly reduced prices. So I snaffled them both up!
The only downside to Adam's account is that he left the campaign early, meaning that, unlike Faber du Faur, he doesn't document the slide into bedlam that was the retreat. But, in fairness to Adam, although one might well wish for more, that's because what there is is terrific. Whilst du Faur was with the artillery of the Wurttemberg contingent p, in Ney's III Corps, Adam - the former apprentice baker! - was with Eugene's IV Corps; hanging out mostly with the Italians, judging by all the Italian troops in his pictures. Actually, as already alluded to above, he was actually attached to the Viceroy's staff.
Like the Faber du Faur volume, and despite the two books appearing under the aegis of two different publishers, this work is superbly edited and translated by the very erudite and capable Jonathan North, who prefaces both accounts with short but comprehensive synopses of the whole 1812 campaign, also placing the authors within their particular contexts.
As mentioned above, Adam's narrative concludes early, in Moscow to be precise. At which juncture, thanks to a certain independence in his position, he's able to get leave to depart, before Napoleon and the army as a whole cave in to the seemingly inevitable, and turn for home. But, as most accounts, - including this one - make clear, the first signs of the Grande Armée's descent into ruin are apparent long before this point.
Adam supplies an epilogue outlining his return journey, and some reflections on the whole experience. And, unlike Faber du Faur's very similarly themed book, there's even a self-portrait, amongst the superb artworks collected here. All this serves to really flesh out the humanity of the story, and of Adams himself, who comes across as a very likeable character. When relating his meeting with friends and companions, old and new, including, in the quote below, some itinerant Jewish salesmen he meets on several occasions, his humanity comes across wonderfully:
'It may have pleased them that I showed none of the prejudice that is generally shown in society to the Jews. This was not hard for me; I have always seen only the human being in a man, without regard for religion, nationality, or class, and have always found it easy to make friends as soon as I recognise a good heart and fine feelings in anyone. This policy has never let me down.'
With that kind of reasonable outlook, it's no wonder he got out of the madhouse when he did!
Approx 28cm x 22cm, this is a somewhat smaller book than the otherwise quite similar Faber du Faur volume, also re-published around the time this came out, and has only 72 plates compared with the latter's 92. Print, paper, and binding quality, like the artwork and written content, are of a uniform and very high standard: brilliant stuff!
July 12, 2011
This is one of those great books that you can slowly take your time and enjoy the beautiful illustrations as you flick through the pages in this lovely presented book; "Napoleon's Army in Russia" by Albrecht Adam.
Once you start taking in the artwork of the paintings you realise what a great job the artist did. This is a nice book just to slowly browse through and enjoy the colours and visual story of this man's journey in Napoleon's army as it marched upon Moscow.
Once you start taking in the artwork of the paintings you realise what a great job the artist did. This is a nice book just to slowly browse through and enjoy the colours and visual story of this man's journey in Napoleon's army as it marched upon Moscow.
February 21, 2015
This is a moving and compelling collection of text and illustrations from one of the most fascination large-scale human endeavours to me: Napoleon's ill-fated invasion of Russia. This much more made the event and its conglomeration of people stretched over miles and countries much like the Crusades of earlier centuries. I found this work a much more compelling depiction than War and Peace.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews