What is quickly done is quickly seen and would not bear the test of careful examination.
Jacques-Louis David
1748 – 1825
HUSSARETTES
This subject is an offshoot of "pinups", but an important one for me.
Some of Ian's young ladies in "Tales of the Golden Head" were given a somewhat "sexy" look in my illustrations thanks to assistance from my first model whom we just refer to as "M".
This led Ian, and Editor of CWJ mag, Phil, as military enthusiasts, to speculate on ladies in uniform and we discovered that in 1810 the French Marshal Massena took on campaign to Spain his young mistress "disguised" as a dragoon, ostensibly as an "Aide de Camp". However we thought that Hussars had a more flamboyant, colourful and revealing set of uniform and equipment, so I received my first Hussarette commission in 2012.
Since then I have been lucky enough to have hired 7 ladies to model for me as Hussarettes. Some have been willing to let me use their faces, but for most paintings I have looked for inspiration for facial features elsewhere. Often this comes from the client who has a particular actress or model in mind who can be used as a guide.
To start with for a photoshoot I hired a British Hussar/Light Dragoon uniform but over the years I have used garments supplied by the models, and added to my own military uniforms and hardwear of all periods with around 7 coats/dolmans/pelisses, two sabres, a short sword, decorative oriental dagger, a carbine, a musket and pistol, various pouches, belts and ammunition cartridge boxes, coloured breeches and leggings, a pair of bloomers, boots and shoes, 7 hats/shakos/colbacks etc.
The number of Hussarette/ Chasseurette/Lancerette/Ensignette paintings completed by the end of 2023 was 35. I still have plenty of reference material so can do many more and the scope is not limited to Light Cavalry uniforms either but anything a client desires.
In recent years my wargaming friend Colin Ashton has also become a fan of the Hussarette genre and I'm grateful to him for purchases and commissions and lots of great ideas.
Oakridge Lynch
Nr Stroud
Gloucestershire
GL6 7NZ
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