A Dear Visitor by Max Kurzweil

Title: Ein lieber Besuch (A Dear Visitor)
Artist: Max Kurzweil (1867-1916)
Made: 1894

Max Kurzweil's 'A Dear Visitor' was created in 1894 and the original painting is in Österreichische Galerie Belvedere. The original size of the work is 94 x 125 cm and is made of oil on canvas. The Artist, Max Kurzweil (1867 - 1916), was an Austrian painter and printmaker. He moved near Vienna in 1879. The canvas depicts a touching scene of farewell to a mortally wounded officer with his battle horse. The painting is called Ein Lieber Besuch. In different sources, such options are used for its designation: “Faithful Friend”, “Last Visitor” and “Goodbye”. The dying officer is no longer able to get out of bed on his own. A soldier lifts him up so that he can touch his loyal friend and comrade-in-arms one last time. The horse recognized the owner. Despite the unfamiliar and frightening situation came up to him. It seems that he is trying to understand what is happening, why the officer does not come to him anymore, why he is so helpless, and not full of strength and courage, as before? No one holds the horse, but the second soldier standing at the wall controls the situation.


Source :
https://www.canvastar.com/en/max-kurzweil-a-dear-visit
https://sammlung.belvedere.at/objects/1260/ein-lieber-besuch
https://vk.com/wall-2583731_12915?lang=en

Rifle Drill of Wehrmacht Soldiers

Rifle drill in a German Wehrmacht pioneer replacement battalion. It was a challenge to keep the white drill uniform (Drillichzug) pristine and over time they took on a dingy faint greyish or yellowish tint to signify an old hand, an alten Landser ('old salt'). In 1940 reed green Drillichzugen began to be issued and the old white outfits became even more of a sign of veterans. The drill uniform was devoid of Lametta (tinsel), that is, insignia and adornments. Recruits did a great deal of rifle drill which improved physical fitness, stamina, coordination, and familiarity with the rifle, here Mauser Kar.98b 'carbines' issued to training and other second-line units. Being pioneers, they sometimes conducted such drills with shovels. Their Obergefreiter, wearing Drillichhose, drills them relentlessly, harassing them with Schikanen (nasty tricks). In the background is a Hf.1 light field wagon* with each Pionierezug possessing one for its equipment, which could weigh up to 1,360kg. Most wagons had smaller front wheels, but German military wagons used the same sized large wheels on all axels requiring only one size for replacements.

* Hf. = Heersfahrzeug (Army vehicle).

Source :
"German Pionier 1939-45: Combat Engineer of the Wehrmacht" Gordon L. Rottman & Carlos Chagas

Trainees, Snow Effect

Title: Trainees, Snow Effect
Artist: Augustin Pierre Bienvenu Chenu (Fleury Chenu)
Date: 1870

Augustin Pierre Bienvenu Chenu (Fleury Chenu) (1833-1875), Trainees, Snow Effect (1870), oil on canvas, 170 × 152.5 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Fleury Chenu’s father in Briançon, France, was a master tailor working for the French Sixth Regiment at the time. Chenu’s Trainees, Snow Effect from 1870 gives a good idea of the very limited preparation which the French had made as tensions mounted during the previous winter. Although a detailed realist painting, Chenu’s sky is so powerful, and sets the scene for the straggling trainees as they make their way along the icy road.

Source :
https://eclecticlight.co/2018/07/27/the-franco-prussian-war-depicting-defeat/