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War has claimed some costly offerings, and youth, genius, and worth have been sacrificed to this terrible Moloch(1). When, fired with love for his native France, Henri Regnault left Tangiers, where he was painting, and threw himself into the midst of the fight, he signed his own death-warrant, and all his hopes of fame sank beneath the gory waves of war.

The great French painter - for so the world agrees to call him - Henri Regnault (or Alexandre-Georges-Henri Regnault) was born in 1843, and was the son of the director of the porcelain works at Sèvres. From his early childhood he displayed a passion for drawing, his sketches being mostly of animals, of which he was very fond.

His father did not discourage his artistic tastes, but insisted that his son should acquire a classical education before turning his attention to art. He was a diligent student, and won several prizes while at the Lycée Napoléon.

He studied art with Lamothe, and in 1866 carried off the Roman prize for winning the Prix de Rome competition, which entitled him to study in Rome at the expense of the French Government. In 1867 he took up his residence in Rome, where, amid the glories of its art treasures, he lived a happy life.

While here he painted his celebrated, "Automedon, charioteer of Achilles, yoking the horses Xanthus and Balius." This splendid picture (measuring 124" x 129 1/2") was painted when the artist was only 25 years old. The figures are life size, and full of vigor and action. This painting belonged to the Hon. Levi Morton, and was exhibited at an art sale in this city [New York City], and was purchased for the Crow Art Gallery of St. Louis, the price paid for it being $5,900 in 1882. Today the painting hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the painting's value is certain to be infinitely more than $5,900.

In 1868, Regnault visited Spain, where he made the acquaintance of General Juan Prim(2), who agreed to sit for him for his portrait. As this was to be an equestrian one, the painter was allowed the privilege of selecting the model for the horse in the royal stables. Passionately fond of these animals, he always found delight in painting them, and his pictures of horses are among his most striking productions. General Prim was not pleased with the life size portrait (124" x 102"), and it was purchased by the French Government.

Returning to Rome, the young painter gathered up his artist's materials and left the, "Eternal City" forever. Once more he found himself in Spain, where there was so much in the way of form and color to delight an artist's eye. He established himself in Granada, so that he might be near the Alhambra. Here, for a while, he and his friend Georges Clairin painted industriously, and in 1869 he wended his way to Tangiers, where he was soon joined by Clairin.

The two painters established themselves in an old Moorish house, which they adorned and beautified. They had their servants, their horses, and their dogs. They had their rich Moorish carpets and curtains, and various beautiful articles of Oriental manufacture. The air, the floods of sunshine, the flowers, the bright colors of the picturesque costumes of the people were so many sources of delight to the young painter, and he wrote to a friend, "My eyes at last see the Orient."

So charmed was he with his new home that he purchased some land and put up a studio, in which he intended always to paint his large pictures, even if he concluded to reside out of Tangiers. He planned a house in which he was to live when painting. Thus the time sped by delightfully, and then came the breaking up of his hopes and his pleasant home, when he turned away from all its pleasures never to behold it again. He patted his dogs, grasped his faithful servants by the hand, locked his studio, and went forth - forth to die in the dark woods near the Park of Buzenval(3).

More than one bright hope was extinguished when this promising young life was laid low. Loving and beloved, Henri Regnault promised himself of many happy days with his betrothed, and what sadder than when they brought her back the little silver tear attached to a chain which she had given him, saying, "Take it now that I am happy, but you must give it back to me the first time you make me weep." But the returned token found upon his dead body, she knew that he was lost to her, and she wept, but blamed him not of her tears, for he had died the death of a patriot and in defense of their beloved France.

It was not compulsion that forced Henri Regnault into the National Guards. He had won the Roman prize, and this exempted him from military duty. He felt that France had a right of the services of all her sons, and he desired no exemption for himself. He made all his preparations for death. He attached to his clothing his name, "Henri Regnault, painter, son of M. Victor Regnault, of the Institute," some letters and pictures, and went forth with his friend Clairin by his side to meet the death of a patriot and a soldier.

The battle raged furiously in the woods, over which the twilight shades were fast falling, and the friends got separated. When the retreat was sounded, in vain did Clairin seek his friend, and was compelled to return to Paris without him. On a never-to-be-forgotten Sunday morning, two persons stood bereaved and sorrowing in Père-la-Chaise, looking down to the handsome young face that even in death seemed to smile upon them. These two persons were Clairin and the painter's betrothed, and the dead face was that of Henri Regnault. He had been moved with two hundred others from the battlefield to the cemetery, and there Love and Friendship followed and wept for him.

Those that were in Paris will ever forget that solemn Friday when the city capitulated and the sad requiem for Henri Regnault filled the aisles of the Church of St. Augustine. Gathered there were hundreds, and a throng outside who could not gain entrance. Statesmen and soldiers, poets and painters had come to pay their homage to this man of genius, and most touching of all was a bunch of white lilacs on the bier and told the story of a woman's love and devotion.

In looking at the paintings of this artist we are struck with wonder at the amount and quality of the work he accomplished in his brief life, for he was only twenty-eight when he died. He left sixty-five oil paintings, forty-five in water colors, and nearly two hundred sketches in crayon, etc.

Among his most renowned works is the "Execution without Trial," a very remarkable painting, which hangs in the Luxembourg, and excites terror in the beholder. It is composed of but two figures, and these tell the bloody story. A marble stairway is seen leading into a Moorish court, over which the sun pours a golden light. In the foreground stands the executioner, wiping his bloody cimeter(4) on his tunic, while the mangled body of a man has fallen down the steps, and the head lies in a pool of blood. The blood covering the white marble of the steps has been pronounced "one of the finest bits of color in modern art." The picture is fearfully realistic, and thrills with horror for who see it.

The fine illustration, "Departure for the Fantasia," which is an Arab dance, will give some idea of the splendid powers of Henri Regnault. It is one of his Tangiers studies, and shows all the dash, vigor, and freedom of execution for which this artist was distinguished. It is most effective and life-like representation of one of those scenes which greet the traveler in Tangiers. The fondness of the painter for horses, and his careful study of them, combined with his practical knowledge of good horsemanship, eminently fitted him for painting with success equestrian pictures. The illustration below is from a superb etching by Lionel Le Couteux, and is a fine specimen of this now popular art of Henri Regnault. Interestingly, Lionel Le Couteux, an artist in his own right was afflicted with a condition called congenital color blindness. As a result he resorted to etching and engraving using Nitric acid. Couteux became quite famous for the beauty and quality of his etchings and engravings as can be seen in the print posted below.

Henri Regnault, a brilliant young artist and patriot was Killed In Action on October 19, 1871, in the Franco-Prussian War.

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