Wednesday, 21 October 2009

Zouaves 1855


Interesting image of Zouaves in the Crimea (I think) - don't know the artist.
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  1. Charles21 October 2009 at 08:33

    I believe this fine picture is probably by the British military artist Orlando Norie (1832-1901). It is very much in his style and I think I can just make out his signature in the bottom right hand corner.

    “ A Most Desperate Undertaking”, the catalogue to the 2004 Crimean exhibition at the National Army Museum, contains the following:

    “Orlando Norie’s uncle, Frederick Norie, is believed to have accompanied the Sardinian Army in the Crimea, painting a number of military scenes there in 1854-55. Although Orlando painted a number of Crimean battle scenes, it is thought that he did not travel to the seat of war in the East, but rather based his watercolours on his uncle’s sketches.”

    It is interesting that the officer in the front rank is wearing the chechia, the fez-like headgear also worn by the other ranks. Zouave officers generally wore the chechia on campaign in Algeria in the 1830s and 1840s, and I have seen other representations of the chechia being worn in the Crimea. However, most pictures of Zouave officers in the Crimea show them wearing the kepi –for examples, see above and below this post.

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