Year 1877 Created 1877 | Medium Oil on canvas | |
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Dimensions 146.5 cm × 222 cm (57.7 in × 87 in) Location The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Artist Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville | ||
The Attack at Dawn by Alphonse de Neuville depicts a French town under siege by Prussian troops.
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History
Alphonse de Neuville served as an officer in the Auxiliary Sappers and as aide-de-camp to General Callier during the Franco-Prussian War. He closely studied locations of battles and weaponry to recreate battle scenes.
Composition
The Attack at Dawn is a recreation of a Prussian assault on a French village. To the left of the painting, a bugler sounds the alarm. French troops rush from the inn, their uniforms identify them as turcus or Algerian fifleman and mobiles or members of the Garde Mobile. The mountain in the background, helps to identify the location of the scene as a village near the Jura Mountains, located near the Swiss border.
Analysis
The paintings of de Neuville attempt to glorifying France's heroic resistance rather than its military defeat.
Off the Wall
Currently, The Attack at Dawn is being featured in Off the Wall, an open-air exhibition on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland. A reproduction of the painting, the original is part of The Walters Art Museum collection, will be on display at Federal Hill Park. The National Gallery in London began the concept of bringing art out of doors in 2007 and the Detroit Institute of Art introduced the concept in the U.S.. The Off the Wall reproductions of the Walters' paintings are done on weather-resistant vinyl and include a description of the painting and a QR code for smart phones.