Gustave LE GRAY (1820-1844) Memories of the camp... Lot 129

Gustave LE GRAY (1820-1844) Memories of the camp of Châlons, 1857 ALBUM dedicated to General Claude-Jules-Isidore Manèque (1812-1870), oblong folio with period binding in dark green half-chagrin, smooth spine decorated; dark green chagrined cloth boards decorated with a gilt fillet and a cold scroll with gilt crowned imperial initial in spandrels, first board with large gilt Empire coat of arms in the center and with gilt title and dedication "to General Manèque"; gilt edges. Signed Binant in Paris. 54 x 65 cm (Stains and traces of humidity, numerous rubbings and slightly broken second plate). It contains 29 photographs in albumen paper prints from wet collodion negatives on glass, mounted on cardboard on tab. Page 1: S. M. the Emperor in pencil Page 3: Portrait of General Manèque Page 5-7-9: Blanks Page 11: Camp of Châlons, barracks and staff (27,5 x 36 cm) Page 13: Mass of October 4, 1857 at the camp of Châlons (30 x 37 cm) Page 15: Maintenance in front of the barracks (27,5 x 35,5 cm) Page 17: Maneuvers of the camp of Châlons, artillery (27,5 x 36 cm) Page 19: Zouaves of the Emperor with dog (30 x 36,5 cm) Page 21: Zouaves camp with drum (30 x 37 cm) Page 23: Photographic reproduction of Benedict Masson's painting, Berber Festival in front of the French Army, signed lower left, not signed by Le Gray (20 x 35 cm) Page 25: Review of the Dragons (27,5 x 36 cm) Page 27: Camp of the Zouaves playing or the story (30,5 x 38,5 cm) Page 29: Maneuvers behind the hill (27,5 x 36 cm) Page 31: Maneuvers in the Field (27,5 x 35 cm) Page 33: Maneuvers in the Field and Maneuver Spectators - two prints (15.5 x 33 cm each) Page 35: Review of the troops near the barracks (26 x 35,5 cm) Page 37: Maneuvers with a path to the left (29 x 34 cm) Page 39: Zouaves camp with barber (30 x 37 cm) Page 41: Zouaves camp with tents (27,5 x 36 cm) Page 43: The empty camp (27,5 x 34 cm) Page 45: Cavalry at rest (27,5 x 35 cm) Page 47: Photographic reproduction of Benedict Masson's painting, Feu de camp, signed lower right, not signed by Le Gray (28,5 x 36 cm) Page 49: Staff Table (28,5 x 37 cm) Page 51: Staff at the camp (28,5 x 34,5 cm) Page 53: Artillerymen in camp (28,5 x 34 cm) Page 55: Zouaves or Turcos at rest (30 x 37 cm) Page 57: blank Page 59: Cavalry maneuvers - four prints (13.5 x 18 cm each) Page 61 and 63: blanks (partially detached and mordanted) (Beautiful homogeneous prints, brown/brown in color, with some mounting stains. Some foxing at the edges of the boards) All photographs are signed in red in the lower right corner, except the paintings by Bénédict Masson. The four smaller prints on page 59, are signed in capital letters. ATTACHED unbound: - Plan du Terrain affecté au camp de Châlons-sur-Marne, Paris, 1857. 4 ff.lithographed in black (folds) - Lithographed portrait in black of General Manèque, Captain of the General Staff, aide-de-camp to General Mollière. Rome, 1849. Provenance : General Claude MANEQUE (1812-1870), by descent. Produced by a pioneer of photography at the height of his fame, Gustave Le Gray's Souvenirs du Camp de Châlons albums were offered by Napoleon III as a gift to military personalities who participated in ceremonies and maneuvers. This reportage was probably ordered on the Emperor's personal tape. Even if this album is of a great rarity and will be weakly diffused, it has for symbolic purpose to show the modernism of the imperial regime which promotes the very young photographic technique. It also has the ambition to demonstrate the power of the French army on the occasion of the inauguration of the new camp of Châlons-sur-Marne, whose size has few equivalents and which accommodates the training maneuvers of the French troops. It is finally a means to encourage and restore the morale of the troops in a period animated by many conflicts. The photography and the choices of Le Gray add a human dimension to it, instantaneous but nevertheless artistic, which still remains today an exceptional testimony of the Second Empire. Le Gray was lodged more than one month in the camp of Châlons, in company of the painter Bénédict Masson. He took views and portraits that he assembled in a single volume produced probably to 25 copies approx., that is to say for each of the military personalities portrayed for the occasion. Less than 20 copies have been found, of which nearly half are currently held in public collections and two dismembered ones dispersed: Camou albums (2017 Sothebys, 2022 De Baecque), Cassaignolles, Cast