Meet Lieutenant Faber du Faur

Lieutenant Faber du Faur was a German artillery officer allied with the French. During 1812 he  participated in Napoleon’s ill-fated invasion of Russia. His Wurttemberg division invaded Russia with 15,000 troops in June 1812 and by December only 100 survived. Faber du Faur was one of the lucky survivors. During the campaign he kept a sketchbook of all that he witnessed.  Long after returning home, Faber du Faur turned these sketches into finished colored art with descriptions for commercial publication to commemorate the invasion.  

Mrs. Brown acquired the Faber du Faur art including his sketch book and finished watercolors in 1957 at auction in Germany for DM 2,300 or about $550. While there are hundreds of diaries on the 1812 campaign from participants on both sides of the conflict, Faber du Faur’s work is unique because it is the only memoir that is all art.  

In 2001, “With Napoleon in Russia – The Illustrated Memoirs of Major Faber du Faur, 1812” was published by Greenhill Books, London.  The Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection has collaborated with a couple of publishers, including Greenhill, to promote awareness and knowledge of art in the Collection. The beautifully illustrated book matches Faber du Faur’s 1812 field sketches with his completed artwork and accompanying descriptions for each image. The book is effectively a 19th century equivalent of an embedded war correspondent’s report from the frontlines.

My Faber du Faur presentation uses both the art and his actual descriptions of each image to bring this disastrous campaign to life. You can watch a previous version of this HERE.