Napoleon’s Last Grande Armée: Eyewitness portraits from the 1813 campaign

 
From the press:
During the summer armistice of the 1813 campaign, two German artists drew illustrations of the French troops stationed around Dresden and Freiberg in Saxony. The men depicted belonged to Emperor Napoleon's last Grande Armée, a colorful multinational force that included, among others, French, Dutch, Italian and Polish soldiers.
These […] paintings provide […] eyewitness evidence of the uniforms of the period […]. Unlike many uniform plates, the illustrations in these two artists' portfolios show what Napoleon's men actually wore on campaign.
Nearly a century after they were first rendered, French historian and collector Gabriel Cottreau commissioned Charles Brun, one of the foremost artists of the era, to copy 98 of the original images from both portfolios. Sadly, many of the original uniform plates were later destroyed, lost, or disappeared into private collections.
In 2000, some of the original plates resurfaced and permission to publish them, along with the 98 Brun copies, was obtained. [This] book […] featur[es] nearly 148 uniform plates, including 50 original Freiberg plates, plus the entire Brun collection. This […] publication includes [… a] descriptive text in English by […] uniformologist Alfred Umhey. Nearly every plate is presented at its full original size on heavy art paper along with the artist's original notes, translated for this edition.
 
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Alfred Umhey is a re-enactor, independent consultant for museums and historical exhibitions, and owner of one of the largest uniform illustration collections in the world. He is also on the editorial committee of the magazine, Soldats napoléoniens.