Description
| Title: | Artillerymen |
| Other titles: | Artillerymen (the museum’s title) |
| Painter: | Henri Rousseau |
| Year painted: | about 1893–1895 |
| Original size: | 80.6 cm x 100.6 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | naive art (primitivism) |
| Held at: | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, nine sizes or a size made to order |
Artillerymen is a painting by Henri Rousseau, oil on canvas, dated about 1893–1895 by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. What you see: fourteen moustached gunners in dark tunics and white trousers posing around a field gun with a great spoked wheel, in front of autumn trees. We paint it by hand in oils, in nine sizes or to measure, and send you a photograph of the finished painting before dispatch.
Artillerymen
What is on the canvas?
In the centre stands a field gun with a dark barrel and a large greenish spoked wheel. Around it fourteen men pose in dark blue tunics with red trim, white trousers and kepis, nearly all moustached: three sit in the grass in front, four have climbed onto the gun, an officer with a sabre stands by the wheel, and at the far right a man in white stands beside propped rifles. The rim of the wheel is lettered 4ème Batterie 3ème Pièce, fourth battery, third gun. Autumn trees rise behind the group, with two tall poplars. Another group posed to face the viewer is The Wedding Party.
What does the painting mean?
The Guggenheim reads it as one of Rousseau’s quirky attempts to depict modern times, here with a dapper military company, and remarks that fourteen identical handlebar moustaches still deliver a spirited image of an artillery battery. Nobody is doing anything: the men pose as if for a group photograph, so the painting is a keepsake of a unit rather than a battle scene. The other painting the museum reads the same way is The Football Players.
Which size suits which room?
The original is 80.6 cm high and 100.6 cm wide; the nearest size is 100 x 80 cm. Nine sizes are available: 70 x 55, 75 x 60, 85 x 68, 100 x 80, 110 x 90, 120 x 100, 160 x 128, 180 x 144 and 200 x 160 cm. Because the faces are small, the smaller sizes suit a study or a hallway, where the painting is seen up close; for a living room we recommend 120 x 100 cm or larger. Above a sofa the painting usually takes about two thirds of the width of the furniture; above a bed it should stay narrower than the headboard. Custom sizes are ordered through the made-to-order painting page, where you enter the width and height; we suggest keeping the proportion of the original and changing only the scale. A very different Rousseau image of war is La Guerre.
How is the painting made, and does it come framed?
Your canvas is begun only after you order it, and is painted by hand in oils in our workshop in Slovenia, at the size you choose. The painter lays in the sky and the trees first, then the gun and its lettered wheel, then the uniforms, and the faces last, one at a time. We do not print, and no machine application is used, so no two versions are exactly alike. The canvas is stretched on a wooden frame and arrives ready to hang; a picture frame is not included in the price and is chosen separately. Before packing we photograph the finished painting and send you the photograph for approval; only then does it travel. A public celebration by Rousseau from the same years is A Centennial of Independence. The whole collection is in the Henri Rousseau gallery.
How is it delivered, and what do we guarantee?
We deliver to Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Germany. Depending on its size, the canvas travels rolled in a rigid tube or stretched on its frame, always in protective wrapping and as a tracked parcel. The making time depends on the size and is confirmed when you order. We guarantee that every painting is painted by hand and that you see a photograph of the finished work before dispatch; if anything in it is not as you wish, we correct it before it leaves the workshop.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original kept?
At the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
When was it painted?
About 1893–1895, the dating the museum gives.
Is a frame included?
No. The canvas is stretched on a wooden frame and ready to hang without a picture frame; a frame can be chosen separately.
Is this a print?
No. It is painted by hand in oils, and the layers of paint can be seen and felt.
Is the painting suitable as a gift?
Yes, especially for someone who likes military history or group portraits. If you would rather the recipient chose, there is a gift voucher.
- Subject: fourteen moustached gunners posing around a field gun with a great wheel, in front of autumn trees.
- Original: oil on canvas, 80.6 x 100.6 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; about 1893–1895.
- Our version: hand-painted oil, nine sizes from 70 x 55 to 200 x 160 cm or to measure, unframed, photograph before dispatch.
- Of note: the wheel of the gun is lettered 4ème Batterie 3ème Pièce, fourth battery, third gun.
