The Last Cartridges, from "L'Univers Illustré"

Louis Paul Pierre Dumont|Ch. Benoist|Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville

June 21, 1873 · Wood engraving · Drawings and Prints

The Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) supplied De Neuville with fruitful subjects decades after the conflict. Here he focuses on French troops from the Blue Division of the marines desperately defending a position against overpowering odds and despite, as the dramatic title indicates, running low on ammunition and down to their last cartridges. The artist based his depiction on a real-life episode in the defense of the village of Bazeilles during the Battle of Sedan on September 1, 1870. Dumont's print reproduces De Neuville's painting first shown at the Paris Salon in 1873, and was published in the French weekly newspaper "L'Univers Illustré".

Artist

Louis Paul Pierre Dumont|Ch. Benoist|Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville

Date

June 21, 1873

Medium

Wood engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Donato Esposito, 2013