The Freyberg MSS of 1813:  The Uniforms of Napoleon’s Last  Grande Armee.  Thirty Original Water Colour Studies of Napoleonic Uniforms, Taken from Life by Alexander Winkler, Freyberg, Saxony 1813.  These paintings were completed in 1813 by Alexander Winkler, a gifted amateur artist and show the uniforms of Napoleon’s Grand Armee and Allies following the 1812 Russian campaign (the original portfolio of 166 paintings was dispersed over the intervening years).  They were painted from life, a significant fact recognized by several later artists who used them as a primary source.  Richard Knotel (see Mitteilungen 1912-1914) and Charles Brun found them invaluable.  They record military fashions in 1813 and highlight the shortages of this time, for many of these troops were clearly outfitted from the stores of the Kingdom of Saxony and not Versailles!  The immediacy between painter and subject resulted in an art form far removed from the ‘Primitive’ school and particularly evident in uniform details, details frequently ignored in later studies.  For example, several figures are shown with small goatee beards, a fashion usually associated with the 2e Empire.  Others show coats with ‘saw tooth’ lapels, a feature virtually lost to posterity over the intervening years.  The paintings are Gouache on paper, approximately 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches, laid-in on Ingres paper, 11 5/8 x 9 1/4 inches within a red hand washed line border; they are in original condition, unaltered or improved.  They are bound in deep blue full morocco with raised spine bands, gilt ornamentation and marbled end papers, t.e.g.  The spine panels have a single gilt line border, embellished by decorative swirls and a Lyre device.  The covers have a 1/2 inch border of flowers and leaves, the front panel with painting #16, ‘Franz Adjutant’, standing with a snuff box, framed by a double gilt line border with Lyre corner filets. Contained in a matching slipcase.