Artworks by Napoleonic POWs

[anteros_lmc]

A few weeks ago when I posted that macabre 19th model guillotine made by a French POW eglantine_br asked:

"I read somewhere that the French POW's made more art than the English. I do not remember why-- but certainly cannot imagine the conditions I read of in the Bitche. etc, leading to art... although some people are driven to do art anywhere. Did anyone else read or hear this? Do any of you remember why?"

Fortress of Bitche

It wasn't something I'd considered at the time but it's certainly true that while artefects made by French POWs from the Napoleonic Wars frequently turn up at auction, artefacts made by British POWs are much rarer. Scrimshaw pieces do appear frequently but, as far as I'm aware, these tended to be made by serving seamen rather than POWs.

I've just started reading Napoleon and his British Captives by Michael Lewis. Mr Lewis has one of the most annoyingly convoluted and flowery writing styles I have come across for a while, but it's a fascinating book and probably the most comprehensive overview of the experiences of British POWs that I've come across. While discussing the allowance made to British seamen POWs (1 lb bread, one ration vegetables and salt, 7 1/2 centimes in cash daily, one knitted waistcoat and pantaloons, one waggoner's frock, one hat, one blanket and one palliasse for every two men, or 5 kgs straw per man, to be renewed every 15 days) Lewis makes the following observation:

"...Napoleon's 'generous' law ordained that, in suitable cases, the British captive might supplement his allowance by following his trade in the neighborhood in which he was incarcerated: but in fact he was usually imprisoned in areas where the local people were too poor to buy the prisoners' products. Often, too, where he was cheated of his pittance of pay, he had not the wherewithal to buy the materials for his pitiful little products: while, so far as one can see, quite as often as not the order was ignored altogether, and he was allowed neither to make anything in the depot nor to go out of it to work.

Lewis is referring specifically to trades here, but it's quite likely that the same restrictions applied to artistic endeavors.

I have no idea how these conditions compared to those of French POWs incarcerated in Britain but I recently got a hold of an account by Louis Garneray, French marine artist and privateer, of the eight years he spent confined on the Portsmouth prison hulks from 1806 - 1814, so it'll be interesting to read the other side of the story.

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Thank you. This is fascinating. Looks like I guessed right about the straw.

It seems pretty universal, now that I think on it, that POW's in many wars were held in places where the populace was too poor to feed themselves, let alone enemy prisoners.

Sailors must have seemed like particularly useless mouths to feed, in places far from the sea. A man who had been a blacksmith, or a farmer, may have at least had translatable skills.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I think one of these days, Archie is going to talk a little to Horatio, at least, about his time in France. (He may have said something in his fever, but he does not remember it clearly. As far as he knows, Horatio knows almost nothing.)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I have a version of this conversation in my head that I would like to write if I had the time. It would be interesting to see how our versions would differ given that we've read the same stuff and I think we also have a very similar conception of the characters.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Yes. I agree, and I would like to see how we each treat that. Looks like I have some writing to do!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Yes go on, write it! And I'll see what I can manage to write sometime. I've had the rough outline in my head for a couple of months now but alas there's been no time to get it down on paper. Or whatever the appropriate equivalent is now a days!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately you were spot on about the straw :/

POW's in many wars were held in places where the populace was too poor to feed themselves, let alone enemy prisoners.
Lewis makes the point that English POWs were held in fortresses that had originally been built for controlling the French broder. However Napoleon's expansionist campaigns had moved the border much further inland so the fortresses, such as Bitche and Metz, were no longer of any practical use and had effectively become rural backwaters.

A man who had been a blacksmith, or a farmer, may have at least had translatable skills.
Indeed. And Verdun had plenty of English tradesmen among the detainees who made a good living catering for the upper class détenus.

It's a fascinating book despite Lewis intensely annoying writing. If I ever come across another copy I'll grab it for you.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Thanks! My research on the POW section was pretty scant. I improvised a lot.

But I would love to read and learn more.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

My research on the POW section was pretty scant. I improvised a lot.
Not at all! You were absolutely spot on from what I can make out!