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This painting was acquired on March 28, 2015 at the German auction house "Bergmann". Its auctioneer ascribed it to the well-known Munich battle and horse artist Albrecht Adam (1786-1862) and gave it the title "Berittene Krim-Tataren auf einer Anhöhe" (English: "Mounted Crimean Tatars on the hill"; see our image nr.20). However, the persons depicted in this painting are in no way "Crimean Tatars" but Bashkir Cossacks who were participating in the Foreign Campaign of 1813/14 on the territory of Germany and France. Here, they are accompanied by several Don Cossacks (one of them is the frontal officer in blue uniform visible with his back to the viewer; three other Don Cossacks (with lances) can be seen at the right edge in the background).
While we refer to these warriors as Bashkirs, they could have well beeen Kazakhs ("Kirghiz-Kaisaks"), (non-Crimean) Tatars, or even Kalmyks. As early as 1812, at the beginning of the Russo-French (Patriotic) War, Russia saw the formation of several dozens of Cossack regiments that were recruited from ethnic Bashkirs, Kazakhs and Tatars populating the Orenburg, Saratov, Vyatka and Perm gubernias, as well as Kalmyks from Volga steppe region. Each of these regiments counted 500 riders and 30 staff members.
First, these regiments fought against the Napoleonic Army in Russia, then (in 1813 and early 1814) - on the territories of Poland and German states and finally (in late spring of 1814) - in France. In autumn 1813, they participated in various combats and major battles (among others, in the battles of Dresden and Leipzig; we assume that the group depicted in this painting is shown on the bank of river Elbe by Dresden).
We would like to add that we are in possession of several other paintings and prints with Bashkir Cossacks.

As for the possible authorship, we totally disagree with the "Bergmann" auctioneer who ascribed the painting to Albrecht Adam. On the contrary, with almost 100% certainty, it is a work of another Munich horse and battle artist, who was working at the same time as Adam, and who (alike Adam) was often depicting Russians in Anti-Napoleonic Wars.
His name was Peter von Hess, and he was the author of a similar scene with Bashkirs in Germany of which he made several variations (variously sized) - see our images nr.11-12. Similarly, a comparison with von Hess's other works strongly supports this attribution.

Peter von Hess (full name Peter Heinrich Lambert von Hess) was born in Dusseldorf on July 29th 1792, and died in Munich on April 4th 1871. He was the eldest son of engraver Carl Ernst Christoph Hess. At first a pupil of his father, he made his first etchings at the age of 10. Upon turning 16 Hess began attending the Munich Academy, yet soon terminated his studies because he disapproved of academy's ossified teaching methods.
He began to depict events of then turbulent time, painting around 1810 and some time later numerous military scenes with Frenchmen, Austrians, Germans and Russian (especially Don) Cossacks. Due to strong popularity of these paintings, Hess was able to accompany Bavarian general, Prince Wrede on his campaigns (battles) against France (1815).
The 1820s proved to be the most successful years for Hess: many of his paintings produced in this decade were immediately acquired for various museums and royal collections (among others, National Gallery (Berlin), Neue Pinakothek (Munich), Dresden Gallery, as well as various museums in Russia, etc.).
In 1833, Peter von Hess accompanied King Otto to Greece. After spending a month there he returned to Munich.
In spring of 1839 he was invited by Tsar Nikolai I to visit Russia. He traveled to St. Petersburg together with his son Eugen and his colleague, painter Klenze. There, he received a commission from the Tsar to produce a series of paintings with battles of Russo-French ("Patriotic") War of 1812.
In November 1839 he returned to Munich, where he spent the next 15 years working on commissioned by Tsar Nikolai I "Russian paintings" (he executed 8 large paintings featuring the battles of Borodino, Smolensk, Polock, Viazma, Valutino, Krasnoye, Klyastitsy and Berezina; and 4 smaller paintings: General Neverovsky by Krasnoye, battles by Tarutino, Malo Yaroslavets, at river Losmina).

Condition:  good

Creation Year:  1813

Measurements: UNFRAMED: 34.0cm x 43.0cm / 13.4" x 16.9"inches
                                     FRAMED: 47.6cm x 57.2cm / 18.7" x 22.5" inches

Object Type: Framed oil painting

Style: 19th century Russian paintings

Technique: oil on canvas

Inscription: -

Creator: Peter von Hess

Creator Dates: 1792 Dusseldorf - 1871 Munich

Nationality: German


Themes:
GERMAN
BAVARIAN
BASHKIR
KAZAKH
KALMYK
NAPOLEON
EMPIRE
CAVALRY
MILITARY
UNIFORM
BATTLE
HORSE
COSSACK
ETHNOGRAPHIC
FOLK COSTUME
ORIENTALIST
RUSSO-FRENCH PATRIOTIC WAR
MUNICH SCHOOL
LIBERATION WAR


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