Among the oldest photographs of veterans in the world is a set of 15 sepia portraits of former soldiers from Napoleon’s French Army. The images were captured when the subjects were in their seventies and eighties, and they’re currently part of the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection at Brown University, in Rhode Island.
It’s unknown how Brown acquired the photos. Each is 12-inch x 10-inch and mounted on stiff card; the name of each veteran and his regiment is written on the back in pencil. They were taken in a studio, with some subjects standing and others seated. Several are blurry, indicating the difficulty the elderly subjects had in standing still for the time it would have taken to expose a film plate.
They’re likely the only remaining images of veterans of the Grande Armée and the Guard in their original uniforms and insignia, although some of the uniforms appear to have been tailored in the 1850s.
It’s not clear when and why the men were photographed, but L’Épopée du Costume Militaire Français by Henri Bouchot provides some clues. In the book, there’s a color plate showing 10 Napoleonic veterans in full uniform, passing the column which sits at the center of the Place Vendôme. Two of the men bear wreaths, and a comparison shows the 10 veterans look very much like the ones in Brown’s collection.
May 5 is significant because it’s the day when veterans would gather in Paris, France, to commemorate the death of Napoleon. The London Times described the 1855 procession, “The base and railings of the column of the Place Vendôme appear this day decked out with the annual offerings to the memory of the man whose statue adorns the summit.
“The display of garlands of immortelles and other tributes of the kind is greater than usual […] the old soldiers of the Empire performed their usual homage yesterday at the same place,” it continued.
On that occasion, there was a funeral in the chapel of Les Invalides. It was attended by Prince Jérôme and other dignitaries, and the entire personnel of the Invalides was present, along with soldiers of the First Empire.
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The more likely date for these photos, however, is 1858. All of the veterans pictured are wearing Saint Helena medals, and it’s well known that those who fought in the wars of the Revolution and the Empire received these decorations in August 1857.