This paintings depicts the First Lifeguards counter attacking the 4th cuirassiers at the battle of Waterloo 1815. The painting went through innumerable pencil and color sketch stages.
He says: “I first started the painting over 3 years ago, but due to my workload I could only manage to work on it sporadically, which became quite frustrating, although it did allow me to do quite a lot of preparatory work for most of the figures. I spent a lot of time looking at the great French military painters, Meissonier, Detaille and deNeuville."
“I also had to do an awful lot of research into uniform details, I managed to get a lot of help including a friend of mine who is a Saville Row tailor and also an expert on Napoleonic tailoring, I also managed to borrow a helmet and cuirass from a similar period along with a very well made reproduction uniform of the period.”
Karl Kopinski's website
Books: L'Armee Francaise: An Illustrated History of the French Army, 1790-1885
Ernest Meissonier: Retrospective : Musee des beaux-arts de Lyon, 25 mars-27 juin 1993 (French Edition)
Ernst Meissonier and Art for the French Bourgeoisie: Master in his Genre
5 comments:
It's posts like this why I keep this blog on my starting pages when I open the browser.
Keep 'em coming mr. Gurney!
Mr Karl Kopinski is a unsung hero amongst the miniature wargaming world due to his art being used to represent these miniatures. Many players read books regarding these miniatures, but never realize who the artist is. He has my utmost respect for his distinct style always allow me to spot him and tell my fellow gamers who drew and painted that picture.
Sharpe's Waterloo" is a pretty good fiction account of the battle.
I always thought the 'british squares' part of the battle would make a great painting - When napoleon sent his full calvary to wipe out the british infantry, they formed 'squares of men with bayonets fixed, as long as they held their position, the calvary could not break them.
Kopinski's great. He was taken in by Games Workshop around 2000-2001 or so, and what a great addition he made to the art team. Plenty of battle painting experience there, that's for sure.
This post makes me want to work even harder to improve my painting skills.
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