A French Soldier 1892

Alfred-Bernard Meyer crafted this enamel plaque titled 'A French Soldier.' The figure strides across our field of vision against a glossy black background, creating a striking interplay between depth and flatness. Meyer's composition uses a vibrant palette, with the soldier's blue jacket and red cap sharply contrasting the earthy tones of his trousers and the landscape underfoot. This contrast, combined with the figure's determined gait, suggests a sense of urgency. Meyer's rendering also plays with texture. He accentuates the roughness of the soldier's garments against the smooth enamel surface, drawing attention to the materiality of the artwork. Through his manipulation of color and texture, Meyer encourages us to consider the symbolic weight of the soldier within the historical narrative of France. It is this tension between surface and depth, figure and ground, that invites us to unravel the rich layers of meaning embedded within the plaque's glossy façade.