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Kaiser-Conti — The French
Published: 2013-08-12 18:58:18 +0000 UTC; Views: 8903; Favourites: 131; Downloads: 0
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Description
You see, my obsession over the French uniforms stretches as far as the 1690s. Here's a plate for the Dauphin regiment that I've made for my largest research project for the infantry. There are some anatomy failures, but in general i'm very satisfied with the result. Drawing the large pleated justaucorps is hell of a fun, really!Jacques Antoine Delaistre was the author of a series of gouaches depicting several guard and line regiments in the French army, both horse and foot. These depictions were part of a massive 80 volumes set prepared for the military education of the Bourbon princes. Only 15 survived until the present day, and the volume dedicated to uniforms is the primary contemporary source for the early part of Louis XV's reign. Today it is in possession of the Musée de l'Armée in Paris. The description above might be misleading, the soldierly figures are reconstruced by me basing on Delaistre's work.
The other source, the "Abrégé de la carte générale du militaire de France" by Pierre Lemau de la Jaisse was an annual printed register listing various details of the military establishment of Bourbon France like military offices, general & line officers, with dates of their promotions as well as a large list of the army regiments, their organisation, garrisons, all that with additional descriptive texts on the uniforms and colours of the troops. The portion regarding the Dauphin regiment is included here.
The conclusion coming from these two sources is that they are agree on the general look of the regiment's uniform from 1720 to 1735. However, the exact tailoring patterns might fluctuate according to current civil fashion trends, as in case of other regiments.
The fork carried by the grenadier sergeant is a non-regulation item approved by The Sun King in recognition for the successful attack of the regiment's grenadier companies against an enemy groundworks at the siege Mons, 2 April 1691. The defenders tried to repulse the French with all arms available - including forks - hence the tradition of carrying them by the regiment's grenadier sergeants until the revolutionary and napoleonic wars.
Please do not use without permission.
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Comments: 25
Vive le Roi! Those were the good old days of France.
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They look so fancy. Nothin beats them in that category.
Awesome job, both research and art.
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HOw can one tell who's the sergent and who's the fusilier ?
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well, apart from a bossy behaviour of a typical sergeant, the fourche de guerre is a huge hint i guess 
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Oh, that. Yes, indeed.
But on the uniform, how can one tell the difference ?
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except for the superior quality of a sergeant's justaucorps, in this particular case there's no fundamental difference. In other regiments sergeants had additional silver or gold lace on the cuffs to be more visible in the soldierly crowd.
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*points at the screen excitedly* I remember these guys! Looking much better than in early sketch form, yes yes. By the look of the plate, for a crazy hopeful moment I even thought you'd managed to get an illustration published, no kidding.
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Many thanks, i'm still quite frustrated how the resting hand of the sergeant turned out, but I've been too lazy to fix that. The plate has not been published, YET, for I shall not lay my arms aside until that happens 
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That's right, all-caps YET. When it is, I shall demand a signed copy, and no, I don't care if I can't read Polish to save my useless life.
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Ah that's granted, together with a big thank you in the foreword for all the help in my struggles with the Armeria Reale 
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My madness is still game for that translation service, and always will be.
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very well then, you got the job Frau Oberst!
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Feu de joie, this instant. : D
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Zasadniczo szpontony były wg przepisów zarezerwowane dla oficerów fizylierów od kapitana wzwyż do 1758 roku (oficerowie grenadierów byli zobowiązani nosić fuzje skałkowe tak jak żołnierze). Sierżanci fizylierów do 1758 r. używali halabard (właściwie w XVIII w. były to partyzany, ale Francuzi dalej używali nazwy halabarda). Egzemplarz wideł bojowych prezentowanego sierżanta jest niezgodny z regulaminem ale był zaaprobowany przez samego Ludwika XIV tylko dla pułku następcy tronu w uznaniu za zdobycie umocnień przez tę jednostkę podczas oblężenia Mons 2 kwietnia 1691 roku - obrońcy odpierali ataki Francuzów czym popadło, w tym kosami, widłami itp. Stąd sierżanci grenadierów, na pamiatkę tego wydarzenia nosili widły aż do czasów wojen rewolucyjnych i napoleońskich.
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Those blue gaiters are slightly disconcerting. Why black cockades and not white?
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Actually, those are not gaiters, but stockings worn over the breeches and fastened under the knee with a garter. Gaiters were used of course, but on campaign only. Here several etchings from the War of the Spanish succession by Watteau clearly show them, as well as paintings by Charles Parrocel or the manuscript by Baron Gudenus for the 30s. Still, gaiters were a non-regulation feature until 1736, until the royal ordonnance ordered them for all the regular infantry troops - but only one, white set that was universal for the duration of the year.
As for cockades, it is one of the biggest mysteries for modern day wargame figures painters, reenactors, uniform-historians etc. The first regulation that imposed white cockades among the entire army comes from the year 1767, before then it is presumed that it was up to the colonels which colour they adopted, however several source mention the usage of white cockades. The others, including Delaistre, show them black. Delaistre however, includes some exceptions, like a white-red cockade for the King's regiment and a blue cockade for one of the foreign regiments. To make it even more confusing, there was a practice among the French army to add another cockade during wartime - the colour of which represented the allied country. For example during the Seven Years War the troops in Germany added a green cockade symbolising the alliance with Austria, and in the American War of Independence French units in America additionally adopted the black cockade of the Continental army as well as the Spanish red one.
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Oh, right, my mistake
I see. I thought it had been white all along. Another thing, what is the sergeant's weapon called? It's not a spontoon, that's for sure.
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it's a battle fork carried by special royal privilege - I have already added the explanation in the artist's comment section.
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