"1812" Napoleon I in Russia: With an Introduction by R. Whiteing |
Common terms and phrases
abandoned advance-guard aide-de-camp Armée arms artillery artists asked attack baggage battle battle of Borodino began Beresina Berthier bivouac Borodino bridge burning camp campaign carriage cavalry Chichagof churches cold command comrades corps Cossacks covered cries cross Daru Davout dead dressed Emperor Alexander endeavoured enemy escape eye-witness eyes fell Fezensac fight fire flames flank France French army gave Grande Armée Grenadiers Guard guns hands head-quarters horses houses impossible infantry inhabitants Kaluga King of Naples Kremlin Kutuzof Labaume Majesty Marshal Marshal Davout Marshal Mortier Moscow Mozjaisk Murat Napoleon Neufchâtel night officers once painted painter Palace passed peace Petersburg plunder position Prince prisoners quarters rear-guard refused regiments remained replied retreat river road Rostopchin Russian army says Ségur scene seen sent side Smolensk snow soldiers streets surrounded tion took troops turned Verestchagin Viazma victory Vilna Vitebsk wagons whole winter wounded wretched
Popular passages
Page 26 - But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Page 25 - Still more notable was the judgment of the London Christian of December 2, 1887—a view having all the more interest to me because of the special character of the paper that published it—• "These paintings are the work of a Russian, Verestchagin, a painter equal to any of his contemporaries in artistic ability, and beyond any painter who ever lived in the grandeur of his moral aims and the application of his lessons to the consciences of all who take the least pains to understand him. . . ....
Page 29 - ... appear to us quite childish now, not to say wholly inconsistent with good taste ? ******* A good deal has been written about my works : many were the reproaches brought against my paintings, those treating of religious subjects as well as of military. And yet they were, all of them, painted without any preconceived idea, — were painted only because their subjects interested me. The moral in each case appeared afterwards, coming up of its own account, from the very truthfulness of impressions.
Page 24 - ... where there exists but a bare representation of a fact or of an event without idea, without generalization, there can possibly be found some qualities of realistic execution, but of realism there would be none : of that intelligent realism, I mean, which is built on observation and on facts — in opposition to idealism, which is founded on impressions and affirmations, established a priori.
Page 49 - Churches, which have separated, thanks to their inability to agree as to whether the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father and the Son or from the Father alone ? Is it possible that they have not come yet to an understanding, and, blinded by mutual hatred, are neglecting the loftiness of their mission on earth ? What is the stand taken by those new Churches originated of late, comparatively speaking...
Page 264 - General Dumas says that after crossing the frontier, he was one day taking coffee at an hotel in Gumbinen, when a stranger entered. He was dressed in a dark overcoat, and wore a long beard. His face was blackened as if it had been burned, and his eyes were bloodshot. " Here I am at last !
Page 30 - Emperor prancing on a fiery steed, in times of danger, in the very thick of the fight. I have represented the bandaging and the transporting of the wounded exactly as I have seen it done, and have felt it in my own person when wounded, bandaged, and transported in the most primitive manner. And yet, that again has been declared to be a gross exaggeration, a calumny. I observed during several days how prisoners were slowly freezing to death on a road extending over thirty miles. I called the attention...
Page 24 - ... event without idea, without generalization, there can possibly be found some qualities of realistic execution, but of realism there would be none : of that intelligent realism, I mean, which is built on observation and on facts — in opposition to idealism, which is founded on impressions and affirmations, established a priori. Now, can any one bring the reproach against me that there is no idea, no generalization in my works ? Hardly. Can...
Page 109 - Athene et Rome Doutaient de voir paraître un homme Qui pût égaler leurs succès. Maintenant, elles sont moins fières, En trouvant les preuves contraires Dans le monarque des Français. » * * * * -•'• Ton vainqueur, témoin de ces crimes, Moscou, déplore tes malheurs, Et par des secours magnanimes...