General Moreau's fatal wound
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| General Moreau's fatal wound |
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| Julius Scholtz , 19th century |
| Oil on canvas |
| Dresden City Gallery, art collection |
The fatal wound of General Moreau is a historical painting by the painter Julius Scholtz . It shows a scene from the battle of Dresden in 1813.
Historical background
Jean-Victor Moreau was in Russian service when he was critically wounded on the afternoon of August 27, 1813 in the Battle of Dresden, in which Napoleon's troops fought against the Austrians, Russians and Prussians: a cannon shot smashed one leg another was crushed when it came under Moreau's collapsing horse.
Ten years earlier, Moreau had come into conflict with Napoleon because he had refused to command the military expedition against England, and as early as 1799 he had allegedly refused Director Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès' proposal to support the government of France by force if necessary, whereas Napoleon had had not hesitated to initiate a coup and to be elected for First Consul, which later developed into his sole rule. Moreau initially stood on Napoleon's side and expressed the conviction that he would preserve the gains of the revolution . But when Napoleon became a despot, he changed his mind.
Napoleon, in turn, had promised not to use the letter in which Moreau had refused to participate in the expedition against England in 1803 against him, but apparently had him under surveillance, suspected him of participating in a plot against himself and finally banished him from France. Moreau's wife was forced to sell all of the couple's property. Moreau's return should only be possible, so Napoleon, if he asked him, who was crowned emperor in 1804, to do so.
However, the exile renounced that. When in 1813 an offer came through Jean Baptiste Bernadotte , the Swedish crown prince who had served as an officer in the French army, to enter Russian service and fight Napoleon, Moreau took hold of it. He had a desire “either to give peace to the world or to perish” and first traveled to Prague via Gothenburg . He turned down an offer to take command of the Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops. In August 1813, led by Prince Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg , they advanced against Dresden, while Napoleon fought against Blücher in Silesia . Schwarzenberg, however, felt inhibited by the monarchs of the allied powers who interfered in his battle plans and therefore did not get the chance to give the order for the main strike. Also Moreau, who was present as an advisor to Tsar Alexander , bothered Schwarzenberg. He described him as an uncomfortable man who interfered in everything without any duty of responsibility.
The delay made it possible for Napoleon to march to Dresden with an army of around 140,000 soldiers and to put down the main attack that took place on August 26, 1813. On August 27, the view was clouded by continuous rain, which led to Alexander I and Friedrich Wilhelm III. Advance farther than usual to view the battlefield from a hill. Moreau, in civilian clothes, was with these gentlemen. Napoleon had the group shot at, with Moreau and his horse being hit. The seriously injured man was first transported to the Tsar's headquarters at Nöthnitz Castle . There the Tsar's personal physician amputated both of Moreau's legs. Then Moreau was brought to Laun . Three days after his wounding, he wrote to his wife that he had lost his legs to a cannonball and that the "evil Bonaparte" would be happy about it. Napoleon, on the other hand, had a report published about what had happened, which read: “The first bullet that the French guard artillery shot while defending Dresden fell the deserter Moreau, a former general in my service. He lost both legs so that he could no longer go to France and pollute the air of his fatherland with his breath. "
Moreau only survived the serious injury for a few days; he died on September 2nd. Tsar Alexander, who assumed that the cannonball was actually meant for him and not for Moreau, had the body embalmed and honored in St. Petersburg , but without the amputated legs. These had been preserved in alcohol and were allegedly discovered later by chance in Nöthnitz, whereupon they were buried on November 4, 1814 in an urn on the Räcknitzer Heights at the Moreau memorial, which was inaugurated at the time .
description
The horizontal format oil painting is divided into three parts horizontally, of which the upper one contains a hazy sky and battle debris in the background, the middle one depicts the actual events and the lower one the foreground. Here at the lower edge of the picture lie some tree trunks that have been shot and in the middle a shepherd-like dog, standing on a green-gray background with its tail drawn in, yaps at the stretcher bearers who are preparing to transport the injured Moreau away. You are moving towards the lower right corner of the picture. Only the upper body of Moreau can be seen. He lies on the stretcher with dead pale skin, his head on a red cushion, probably a folded uniform jacket, bedded, his body covered with a gray fabric. The stretcher is accompanied by a rider on a fox with a blaze . To the left of this group there are more riders, underneath, on a white horse, probably one of the rulers, who looks to the right in the direction of the wounded and is apparently being addressed by a soldier on foot who visually connects the two groups. Likewise, the right rider is addressed by a pedestrian who turns his back on the viewer of the picture. In the background shadowy more soldiers can be seen, partly on horseback, partly on foot; on the far right cannons are being operated, which are aimed at the background of the picture. On the left edge of the picture a standing soldier in dark uniform with a saber and gray mustache stands out as a viewer of the scenery.
The painting does not appear to be dated. It is under the inventory number 1953 / k 496 in the Städtische Galerie in Dresden .
Further representations of the event
A depiction of Moreau still hanging in the saddle of his fallen horse, which lies on the right leg of his rider, illustrates the work of Saxony's nine memorable years from 1806 to 1815 by Franz Lubojatzky , published in 1853 during Napoleon's campaigns in Germany and Russia . A similar design, but with a panoramic cityscape in the background, is an illustration in Bruno Krause's historical development of the royal seat of Dresden from 1893. A painting by Auguste Couder , on the other hand, shows Moreau dying in a four-poster bed with red curtains, as he apparently dictates to a helper.
The Lubojatzky illustration
The Krause illustration
Couders representation of the dying
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Quoted from: Lars-Broder Keil: Napoleon achieved a final triumph near Dresden. August 25, 2013 at www.welt.de
- ^ Lars-Broder Keil: Napoleon achieved a final triumph near Dresden. August 25, 2013 at www.welt.de
- ↑ Holger Starke: The fatal wound of General Moreau. In: Free State of Saxony (Ed.): Dresden City Museum. (= Saxon museums. Volume 21). Verlag Janos Stekovics, Dößel 2010, ISBN 978-3-89923-265-3 , p. 123
- ↑ More pictures of the Battle of Dresden, including a representation of the injured Moreau on the stretcher, located under the title The Battle of Dresden in 1813 on www.welt.de .