Neuville

Neuville, ALPHONSE MARIE DE, the most popular of the youngest school of French painters of battle-scenes, was born at St Omer on 31st May 1836, and after studying under Delacroix painted a series of successful pictures illustrative of French exploits in the Crimean war, Italy, and Mexico. Then came the war with Germany. Neuville fought in the ranks and learned something of real warfare from actual experience. This knowledge imparted additional power to his next and last series of works, depicting incidents of that war. The attack at Rorke's Drift and that at Tel-el-Kebir were also chosen by him as subjects for pictures. Neuville excelled moreover as an illustrator of books, his best work in this line being the designs for Guizot's Histoire de France. He died in Paris, 20th May 1885.