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| The loneliness of command - under revised house rules, brigade commanders still don't get an ADC |
Another senior officer for the Spaniards.
This chap is a spare from a stock of Spanish cavalry I've had for a little over
two years, waiting patiently in the paint queue. These are some of the figures
I commissioned from Hagen - they paint up all right, I think?
This is Colonel Beremundo Ramirez de Arellano
of the line cavalry unit Reina, who
had the (brief) pleasure of commanding the brigade of cavalry at Uclés (13th Jan 1809).
Since he is a colonel, much of the prep
work consisted of carefully filing off his epaulettes - hands are still sore
this morning!
Very fine looking specimen. Nice brushwork too! I think he could be used as a pre-1809 Hesse-Darmstadt officer as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jon - interesting re other uses. Presumably for Hessians we'd leave the epaulettes on?
Deletehttp://prometheusinaspic.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/new-figure-commission-spanish-cavalry.html
Tony,
DeleteI was thinking of this illustration when I made the comment:
http://www.grosser-generalstab.de/lh/lh5/lh5_34.html
he is shown with no epaulettes.
A Google search on "napoleonic uniforms hesse darmstadt officer" brings up a number of plates with HD officers that your Spanish figure would fit very closely. Some have zero, one, or two epaulettes.
Jon - thanks for this - when these Spanish chaps were specified to Massimo the sculptor, we went for the safest option of having two eps - this is correct for a captain - sub-lieut has left only, lieut right only, capt both, major and upwards none - which means that none of the generals have them. This still strikes me as surprising, given the fact that the old Bourbon Spanish army is in many ways like the French, but it's easier to remove eps from a model than add them. All my mounted Spanish regimental officers are normally captains, not that it matters!
DeleteIn passing - illustrations of Spanish cavalry colonels are rare - there are masses of plates of captains. There are two illustrations of cavalry colonels in Bueno's book about Romana's force that went to Denmark, and - I mention this is a whisper - Bueno got them both wrong - he has fine epaulettes. Maybe some colonels wore them? Maybe his plates were based on Suhr, and they misunderstood the ranks? Who knows - anyway, the regs said no eps - Austrian style - for officers above captain.
I'll read up on the HD boys - that's interesting.
A lovely figure
DeleteLovely work and lovely figure, Tony.
ReplyDeleteThank you Boot Man. Interesting - more of a diorama figure really - these things scare me a bit, but it works out OK. Well, it impresses me, anyway!
DeleteLovely figure, and again the turned head adds real character (did you give it a gentle twist or is that the casting?). Horse is a fine creature and a great pose.
ReplyDeleteThat's how the figure is sculpted - he looks a bit as if he is checking that he really is surrounded, or maybe checking for a way out if things get nippy.
DeleteI like the lightblue facing color. Looks really good with an excellent paintjob!
ReplyDeleteI was nervous about the reins - it wasn't as bad as I feared, but I think I'll use rather lighter gauge wire next time. I might even use nylon fishing line (black?). Yes, all right - still nervous. The superglue accelerator helps, but you still need three hands.
DeleteLooks to me as though he is looking up at the player, perhaps saying ' For God's sake throw a six!!'
ReplyDeleteRoy
Yes, he does! - this time it's personal...
DeleteHe looks fine, Tony. Very gallant. In my experience, soldiers often wear whatever the hell they want in the field, so I dunno, if I was a Spanish colonel and I liked epaulettes, I would wear the biggest shiniest ones I could find. But, I admire your filing dedication. Good to be back, I have sadly taken my eye off your blog.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, Michael - I missed you. I was working on some ingenious but probably irritating joke about Epaulettes and Montagues, but I thought better of it.
DeletePerhaps I am showing signs of growing up, at last?
Perish the thought. Madame Padre and I are fighting it to the very end. And one another.
Delete