Just as soon as I was finished painting and ready to base my
Colonel of the 13th Chasseurs à Cheval (see the last post), up
popped a portrait of
the man himself.
Colonel Jean-
Baptiste Demengeot
was exactly one day
younger than
Napoleon, being
born on 16 August
1769 and so was, like
the Emperor, 40 in
1809. One thing was
immediately clear
from his portrait: he
wasn’t blonde!
Going by a later
portrait, he certainly shaved off his cavalry moustache some
time during his retirement from active service. When
exactly the earlier portrait was painted isn’t clear but he is
dressed as a light cavalry colonel with twin-fringed silver
epaulettes (see Post 67). He proudly displays his Legion of
Honour. He received all three ranks of the order, the most
senior in 1849 when he was 80 years old. In 1809, he had
already been awarded the first two ranks. As I mentioned in
the last post, he retired from active service in August 1809.
He had served as ADC to General Oudinot in 1800, General
Massena advanced his career in the same year, he was
Here I Go Again!
wounded
twice at Hollabrunn in 1805, promoted to
Colonel and given com-mand of the 13th
Chasseurs in 1806, he fought in Prussia and
Poland, and was wounded once more at
Golymin in 1806 and again at Eylau in 1807.
He was created Baron of the Empire in 1808.
Three years as regimental field commander
and suffering at least four wounds sounded
to me like an impressive innings. Perhaps there was something
significant in Napoleon’s army about reaching the age of 40 as
Demengeot retired the day after his birthday.
LEFT & BELOW My Colonel not blonde any more but with something of
a Demengeot-esque shaped moustache and hair greyed.
POST 163
163
