Polish Spearman With The French Flag - Straw Marquetry - (circa 1804-1821)

POLISH LANCER with the French flag (front) Unidentified building. Straw Marquetry (Circa 1804-1821)Frame size: 24.5 cm x 30.5 cmArtwork size: 14 cm x 20 cmThe 1st Polish Light Horse Lancers Regiment (Polish: 1 Pułk Szwoleżerów-Lansjerów Gwardii Cesarskiej) was a light cavalry unit of the Imperial Guard, created by Napoleon I and in service in the Grande Armée from 1807 to 1815. With a theoretical strength of 1,000 cavalrymen and 32 staff men, it was the fourth cavalry regiment integrated into the Guard.Recruited from the Polish nobility, the light horse saw action during the Spanish Civil War, particularly at the Somosierra Pass where only one of their squadrons successively captured four well-entrenched enemy batteries guarded by several thousand Spaniards. After this exploit, the Poles joined the Old Guard. In 1809, they were the first cavalrymen of the Imperial Guard to be equipped with the lance, and thus became the "Polish lancers". Under the command of its colonel Wincenty Krasiński, the regiment took part in the Russian campaign, where the lancers were particularly feared by the Cossacks whom they confronted in particular at Gorodnia by freeing Napoleon and his staff from an attack. Only a few hundred lancers survived the retreat and the regiment was reorganized to take part in the campaigns in Germany and France where they were grouped into a brigade with the Red Lancers of the Imperial Guard. During this period, the 1st Lancers distinguished themselves at Reichenbach, Dresden, Peterswalde where the light cavalry dispersed a regiment of Prussian hussars, and in multiple clashes on French soil. After the abdication of the Emperor, almost the entire corps returned to Poland with the exception of a squadron under the command of Jerzmanowski who accompanied Napoleon to the island of Elba and charged alongside the Red Lancers at Waterloo. This squadron, the last foreign formation to fight within the Imperial Guard, was definitively dissolved on October 1, 1815. Considered one of the best light cavalry regiments of their time, the Polish Lancers of the Guard remained loyal to the Emperor throughout the Napoleonic epic. Their charge at Somosierra, considered one of the greatest feats of arms in the history of cavalry, has sparked significant controversy while also taking its place in the imagination of painters and writers. (source Wikipedia)