Original British Crimean War Era Framed Portrait of Hussar with Swagger Stick & Pouch Belt by F. Holtmann - Dated 1856 - 28½ x 34”

Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is an outstanding portrait of a British Lancer or Hussar, dated 1856 at the bottom right next to the artist’s name, F. Holtmann or Hohmann. We have not been able to identify the artist, but the year, 1856, was the final year of the Crimean War. 

The painting is in a large ornate frame measuring 28½ x 34”. There are some vague markings to the back of the frame, and someone during the early 20th century added a lamp to the top of the frame, which has a newer LED bulb inserted, and is still functional, despite heavy rusting. The bulb should be replaced with one that will not further damage the painting.

The painting shows some damage, with a small tear in his right cheekbone, and overall “sagging” of the canvas towards the top. The frame has very heavy material loss in places, but nothing that detracts from the beauty of the portrait.

This is a tremendous painting in its original frame, with some great research potential. Identifying the artist would go a long way in narrowing down who this young man could be. Comes ready for further research and display!

The Crimean War 

The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont from October 1853 to February 1856. Geopolitical causes of the war included the "Eastern question" (the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the "sick man of Europe"), expansion of Imperial Russia in the preceding Russo-Turkish wars, and the British and French preference to preserve the Ottoman Empire to maintain the balance of power in the Concert of Europe.

The flashpoint was a dispute between France and Russia over the rights of Catholic and Orthodox minorities in Palestine. After the Sublime Porte refused Tsar Nicholas I's demand that the Empire's Orthodox subjects were to be placed under his protection, Russian troops occupied the Danubian Principalities in July 1853. The Ottomans declared war on Russia in October and halted the Russian advance at Silistria. Fearing the growth of Russian influence and compelled by public outrage over the annihilation of the Ottoman squadron at Sinop, Britain and France joined the war on the Ottoman side in March 1854.

In September 1854, after extended preparations, allied forces landed in Crimea in an attempt to capture Russia's main naval base in the Black Sea, Sevastopol. They scored an early victory at the Battle of the Alma. The Russians counterattacked in late October in what became the Battle of Balaclava and were repulsed, and a second counterattack at Inkerman ended in a stalemate. The front settled into the eleven-month-long Siege of Sevastopol, involving brutal conditions for troops on both sides. Smaller military actions took place in the Caucasus (1853–1855), the White Sea (July–August 1854) and the North Pacific (1854–1855). The Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont entered on the allies' side in 1855.

Sevastopol ultimately fell following a renewed French assault on the Malakoff redoubt in September 1855. Isolated and facing a bleak prospect of invasion by the West if the war continued, Russia sued for peace in March 1856. Due to the conflict's domestic unpopularity, France and Britain welcomed the development. The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 March 1856, ended the war. It forbade Russia to base warships in the Black Sea. The Ottoman vassal states of Wallachia and Moldavia became largely independent. Christians in the Ottoman Empire gained a degree of official equality, and the Orthodox Church regained control of the Christian churches in dispute.

The Crimean War was one of the first conflicts in which military forces used modern technologies such as explosive naval shells, railways and telegraphs. It was also one of the first to be documented extensively in written reports and in photographs. The war quickly symbolized logistical, medical and tactical failures and mismanagement. The reaction in Britain led to a demand for the professionalization of medicine, most famously achieved by Florence Nightingale, who gained worldwide attention for pioneering modern nursing while she treated the wounded.

The Crimean War also marked a turning point for the Russian Empire. It weakened the Imperial Russian Army, drained the treasury and undermined its influence in Europe. The humiliating defeat forced Russia's educated elites to identify the country's fundamental problems. It became a catalyst for reforms of Russia's social institutions, including the emancipation reform of 1861 which abolished serfdom in Russia, and overhauls in the justice system, local self-government, education and military service.