1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Detaille, Jean Baptiste Édouard

DETAILLE, JEAN BAPTISTE ÉDOUARD (1848–), French painter, was born in Paris on the 5th of October 1848. After working as a pupil of Meissonier’s, he first exhibited, in the Salon of 1867, a picture representing “A Corner of Meissonier’s Studio.” Military life was from the first a principal attraction to the young painter, and he gained his reputation by depicting the scenes of a soldier’s life with every detail truthfully rendered. He exhibited “A Halt” (1868); “Soldiers at rest, during the Manœuvres at the Camp of Saint Maur” (1869); “Engagement between Cossacks and the Imperial Guard, 1814” (1870). The war of 1870–71 furnished him with a series of subjects which gained him repeated successes. Among his more important pictures may be named “The Conquerors” (1872); “The Retreat” (1873); “The Charge of the 9th Regiment of Cuirassiers in the Village of Morsbronn, 6th August 1870” (1874); “The Marching Regiment, Paris, December 1874” (1875); “A Reconnaissance” (1876); “Hail to the Wounded!” (1877); “Bonaparte in Egypt” (1878); the “Inauguration of the New Opera House”—a water-colour; the “Defence of Champigny by Faron’s Division” (1879). He also worked with Alphonse de Neuville on the panorama of Rezonville. In 1884 he exhibited at the Salon the “Evening at Rezonville,” a panoramic study, and “The Dream” (1888), now in the Luxemburg. Detaille recorded other events in the military history of his country: the “Sortie of the Garrison of Huningue” (now in the Luxemburg), the “Vincendon Brigade,” and “Bizerte,” reminiscences of the expedition to Tunis. After a visit to Russia, Detaille exhibited “The Cossacks of the Ataman” and “The Hereditary Grand Duke at the Head of the Hussars of the Guard.” Other important works are: “Victims to Duty,” “The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Connaught” and “Pasteur’s Funeral.” In his picture of “Châlons, 9th October 1896,” exhibited in the Salon, 1898, Detaille painted the emperor and empress of Russia at a review, with M. Félix Faure. Detaille became a member of the French Institute in 1898.

See Marius Vachon, Detaille (Paris, 1898); Frédéric Masson, Édouard Detaille and his work (Paris and London, 1891); J. Claretie, Peintres et sculpteurs contemporains (Paris, 1876); G. Goetschy, Les Jeunes peintres militaires (Paris, 1878).