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Le livret oblong intitulé An artist on the march démontre qu’en seulement quarante-huit pages il est possible de contenter le commun des lecteurs et les chercheurs et de piquer leur curiosité à tous les deux. Édité en 1989 par CMA Ltd à Guernsey à la demande des descendants du colonel Cornelius Francis (Frank) James et en association avec The Guernsey Museum and Art Gallery, il fait appelle à Tony Carey pour le texte. Il présente le soldat puis l’artiste en quelques mots bien choisis. La première partie des œuvres se rapporte à l’expédition britannique en Abyssinie à laquelle le colonel prend part ; la seconde partie regroupe les peintures ayant trait à l’Inde. La singularité notoire des pages qui succèdent à l’introduction est la pertinence des légendes. Elles mettent en valeur les grandioses illustrations de l’Éthiopie dont la liste mérite d’être dressée :

1. Slinging the elephants.
2. Zoulla.
3. Kumayli.
4. The devils staircase.
5. Undul wells.
6. Rayragudee.
7. Senafe.
8. Goon Goona waterfall.
9. The church of St. Michael.
10. The peaks of Adowa.
11. Castles at Maiwahiz.
12. Ruin at Agoola, Tigre.
13. Amba Alaji, near Atilla.
14. Lake Ashangi.
15. First view of Magdala.
16. The Wandich Pass.
17. The Chetta Ravine.
18. Magdala.
19. The scene of the massacre.
20. Storming the gateway.
21. The prison.
22. St. Michael.
23. King Theodore.

La dernière illustration reproduit la lettre de remerciement datée du 20 octobre 1868 de Lord Napier of Magdala à James pour le dessin polychrome qu’il lui a offert.

Le National Army Museum de Londres abrite une collection d’aquarelles et de dessins de James qui a servi à l’édition de la brochure et qui est désormais accessible en ligne :

1. Storming of the Gateway, Magdala, Abyssinia, 13 April 1868
2. The Chetta Ravine, Abyssinia, 1868
3. The ‘Devil’s Staircase’ in the Suru Pass, Abyssinia, 1868.
4. ‘Magdala, view from Selassie, overlooking the camp of King Theodore’s army on the plateau of Salamji’, Abyssinia, 1868
5. Abyssinia, The scene of the Massacre, Magdala, 1868.
6. ‘King Theodore taken soon after death, the original drawing done by me at Magdala’, 1868
7. The Prison, Magdala, 1868
8. First View of Magdala, 1868
9. Lake Ashangi, 1868
10. Amba Alaji, near Atillam, 1868
11. Ruin at Agoola, Tigre, 1868
12. The Church of St Michael, 1868
13. Senafe, Abyssinia, 1868

Au détour d’une phrase, Tony Carey nous plante une écharde dans le pied en nous apprenant que le colonel Cornelius Francis James a tenu un journal pendant son service en Abyssinie. Croupit-il dans les archives de ses descendants ? Quelque chose nous laisse penser que l’écharde va démanger encore longtemps.

Quatrième couverture

CORNELIUS FRANCIS JAMES was one of the most gifted of several soldier artists who served in India in the 19th Century. He travelled extensively with his regiment and on the staff; rising to the rank of Colonel before his death at the age of 51.

Wherever military service called him, he sketched and painted the landscapes and people that he encountered. Today his watercolours offer a vivid and fascinating glimpse of a world of redcoated sepoys, Indian castes, Hindu temples and distant Himalayas.

As a member of a punitive expedition to free hostages held in Abyssinia in 1868, he provides a colourful record of this swift but arduous campaign through some of the mast dramatic scenery in Africa. His paintings portray the drama and difficulties endured by the soldiers and their, animals. .

Exhibitions of Frank James’ work were staged in his lifetime, but this is the first publication of the 63 paintings reproduced here; many from the collection at the National Army Museum, in London.

Dans le CHOWKIDAR[1]

An Artist on the March Colonel Cornelius Francis James, Prince of Wales’ Own Bombay Grendadiers, 1838 -1889, ed. Mrs. M.F. Carey

1989 marked the centenary of the death of a gifted nineteenth century soldier artist and amateur inventor. Born in Madras, he was the second generation of his family to serve in India, his father retiring as a Major General in the Madras Army. His mother’s father had also served thirty eight years in the Madras Army, as had his wife’s father. His great uncle had been killed at the siege of Patna in 1759. The members of his and his wife’s families aggregated four hundred years’ military service in India. He himself, after Addiscombe, joined the then 20th Bombay Infantry in 1856, first seeing action in the Persian War of 1856/57. His watercolours are an evocative record of peace and war, including twenty five on the 1868 expedition of the Bombay Army to Abyssinia, under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Robert Napier, ending with the capture of Magdala.

‘An Artist on the March’ is the first publication of his vivid paintings, the centenary of his death prompting his family to put together a selection of his work in conjunction with major exhibitions first at Guernsey where they reside, and currently (until 29th April 1990) at the National Army Museum, London. The NAM Exhibition displays about seventy of his remarkable paintings, some owned by his family and some by the NAM. He had travelled extensively with his Regiment and while on leave. Wherever he happened to be, he sketched and painted the landscapes and people he encountered, modestly recording for an exhibition at the RUSI in 1876, ‘These pictures, painted as an amusement in the leisure hours of active military life abroad, make no pretence to merit on the ground of artistic excellence’. He died of cancer on leave in England, having risen to the rank of Colonel. A fascinating exhibition and a splendid booklet of the work of a soldier whose paintings were also exhibited in 1878 at Aldershot, the exhibition being visited by Queen Victoria.  (SLM)

CMA Ltd, Delta House, 1 Cornet Street, St. Peter Port, Guernsey, C.I.  £7.50 + £1.20 P&P pp 48.

Biblethiophile, 03.11.2024.

[1] https://www.bacsa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/chowkidar_05_05.pdf, consulté le 03.11.2024.