Uniforms of the civil guard in Courtray, Belgium
1832
Medium
Black chalk and watercolor
Dimensions
11 1/4 x 8 5/16 in.
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Alexander B.V. Johnson and Roberta J.M. Olson, 1993
Accession Number
1993.1130.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Auguste Raffet’s 1832 drawing captures the crisp uniforms of the Civil Guard in Courtray (modern-day Kortrijk), Belgium, just after the country’s independence from the Netherlands. Executed in black chalk and watercolor on paper, the sheet measures roughly 11 by 8 inches and belongs to the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of Drawings and Prints. Raffet, a French artist celebrated for his precise military imagery, used delicate washes of color and fine chalk lines to record every button, epaulet, and stripe with documentary clarity. Created during a period of political reorganization in newly ...
About the Artist
Auguste Raffet · 1804–1860
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