Sapper, Napoleon's Imperial Guard

Apparently, these guys were under Napoleon's personal control, and "jealously husbanded" by him, according to Adam Zamosky in his book on the Russian campaign -- 1812 -- which I highly recommend.

BTW, the parallels between the French experience in Russia in 1812 and that of the Germans in 1941, as set forth in David Stahel's "Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East" are astonishing. It seems like not much had changed in the intervening period.

But I digress.

So, on this one, I was going for a jewel-like effect on the blue tunic and I decided to try some Smalt, an Old Master color. Which I had to make myself from the pigment. Well, I had never done it before, and it's not that easy to do anyway because it's made from glass impregnated with Cobalt, so it came out all gritty and sandy and reflective in odd ways. Ugh! Always looking for that edge.