Les Amours ...

[Konrad]

Masterpiece!

[Cryns]

Dear Egbert,

My compliments for your new work. I was already an admirer of your painting skills and dio's. Your Teutoburger Wald diorama was an inspiration to me when I started building my ancient Germanic collection. Now this 'cupido' dio comes on top of that, Okay, it is a 'free style copy' of an Italian masterpiece, but you are the first one to admit that and show the original diorama to us as well. I love that transparency about the origins of this work. And your own work is still very impressive.
Your sculpting is very good. I love your handmade wire trees. I read somewhere at this forum you got your technical information about tree making from the Jos Geurtsen blogs, and thats exactly where I found it too last year.
Your choice of uniform colors is excellent! My compliments for that. Your French greens and blues for the coats are very dark and so very realistic to my honest opinion (let this be an example to others) Even your red is very dark. A great blood red color. Also very well done: the snow trampled away from the dry grass by the horses. Well done.

[k.b.]

This is truly magnificent Egbert! Even by your own incredibly high standards I don't think you have reached this level of perfection in your previous dioramas. Of course for us Napoleonic buffs you chose a brilliant theme to showcase your full repertoire of modelling skills.
Thanks for showing your work which is an absolute delight to behold!
Ps/ Even the horses' tails blowing in different directions adds to the icy mood of the scene

[Egbert]

I hope to see it at Hannoversch Münden in November?

I think so ...
and I'm glad to meet you in Person then

[renikart]

Excellent work! I really enjoy it when a diorama can tell a story, small or big. It's that little piece of emotion that gives it a bit extra.

[Egbert]

Dear Egbert,
Your choice of uniform colors is excellent! My compliments for that. Your French greens and blues for the coats are very dark and so very realistic to my honest opinion (let this be an example to others) Even your red is very dark. A great blood red color...

I am very pleased that you like the colors.
Perhaps the reason Is that I paint with oil-colour and one has many possibilities
to mix the colours in several shades ...

[Lacc]

Wiking+1

All things have made like a master job.
I love this piece.
Good exaimple to inspirated me.
Thank's for show your job.



Alfredo

[Egbert]

Part 2 ...the irregular Russian cavalry (Bashkirs, Tatars, Kalmyks, ...)

[stenfalk]

Now I had to put on a jacket! I feel as I stand in the middle of the scene...

[Peter]

I could have used the smiley above much more times for this part 2! Excellent work again Egbert!

[Acid]

Just wonderful! Love it!

[Salaberry]

Your work is absolutely stunning!
I still remember your Borodino diorama, which was full of great ideas, but I think this one reaches an even higher mark.
Love the transformations (hope you don't mind if I steal some of your ideas for one of my projects), the scene composition, the painting style, the way you made the trees, and the snow, which is not easy to do at this scale.
My only remark (let's call it constructive criticism) is with regards to the way you paint eyes on horses. If you take the wounded horse pierced by an arrow, for instance, I first thought it was dead because of the greyish eye. But, that said, it's a very minor detail.
Again, fantastic job and keep posting the "how to" parts. I love seeing the scratch-building in action!

[Dad's Army]

Fantastic, looks almost real...

[Michael Robert]

Wonderful work. I gladly join in and share the enthusiastic applause.
Beautiful conversions, painting, landscape.
A vivid and somewhat glacial atmosphere

Michael

[christophe]

Hello,
this is just beautiful, especially in the realization that in the subject.
you have managed to create an atmosphere
Great work congratulations

[Kekso]

Impressive work.
Some eye catch:
All the photos .
The groundwork .
Position and pose of the figures .
There conversion .
Painting .
The damaged gun, dead soldier and the snow at it .
Smal details like the frozen upper lip beard of the soldier who talk calm to the horse .
The well arranged/ painted civil cloth against the cold on the soldiers .
A very well done Dio. .

Is this a poem?

[Kekso]

Two thumbs up for Part 2 It is maybe even better than Part 1.

[Beano Boy]

Ace Cool Painting and Presentation Egbert.

"Cool it`s Blooming FFFFFrrreezing BB!" !

The tree`s frame the photo`s well keeping the eye focused on the picture,and not skipping away off the page into space. A Big Well Done. BB

[Arekmaximus]

Amazing....!

[Egbert]

Revision 13.12.2019 due to photobucket

Hi,
the suggestion for this model came to me through a double Dio,
of the well-known Italian duo Cartacci-Numitone (the latter model painting the former)
With this fantastic 54mm dio, the two won at the World Expo 2008 in Gerona
1st prize in the category "Best of Show historically".



It is a small scene from Napoleon's Russian campaign in the winter of 1812.
A small group of mounted officers, possibly members of the "Escadron sacré",
be attacked in a birch grove by Russian cavalry (Bashkirs, Tartars, Kalmucks, ...)
allies in the service of the Tsar from the steppes of Asia.



Because of the arches, reminiscent of the Roman god of love Cupid, they were ridiculed by the French as "les Amours".
The nomadic horsemen made apparently a joke of it to fret the French with bow and arrow.


Here are the remodeled horses with the changed saddlecloths ...









... and here the converted figures ...





































.. the landscape before it begins to snow ..













The finished diorama