Foot Rifleman Le Chasseur à pied du Corp de franc-tireurs : Lieut: Colon: Grothus

Eustachy Grothus (1792–1858) was a commander during the November Uprising, leading the volunteer Battalion of Sandomierz Riflemen. This unit was formed in Radom and Warsaw. Stationed along the Vistula River south of Warsaw, the battalion played a key role in preventing Russian forces from destroying the capital’s bridge. Among the most successful actions of this formation were the Battle of Firlej on 9 May, where, alongside the 5th Line Infantry Regiment, it routed the vanguard of General Cyprian Kreutz, the battle of Izbica-Tarnogóra on 12 May, and the battle of Wieprzowe Jezioro, where the battalion resisted significantly larger Russian forces from General Theodor Rüdiger’s corps. In early August 1831, Grothus’s soldiers were transferred to the left bank of the Vistula and placed under the command of General Samuel Różycki.

This graphic is part of the series Ubiory Wojska Polskiego z roku 1831 (Uniforms of the Polish Army from 1831), based on drawings by Jan Feliks Piwarski (1794–1859), a painter, graphic artist, curator of the Print Room at the University of Warsaw, professor at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts, and one of Poland's first lithographers. Piwarski was an eyewitness to the Warsaw uprising. The author of the engraving is Fryderyk Krzysztof Dietrich (1779-1847), a German-born engraver who was associated with Poland since 1819. For many years, he operated a print workshop in Warsaw with his son, producing works highly regarded for their artistic quality. The series included 30 engravings, which Dietrich hand-coloured with the help of his son and, later, another engraver. Gazeta Warszawska in 1831 noted that "Mr. Dietrich has begun publishing depictions of our army’s uniforms, highly sought after abroad." The engravings were sold by Antoni Dal Trozzo in Warsaw, and Dietrich dedicated them as a token of respect to General Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki.

This piece was acquired from the Lubomirski family of Przeworsk.

dr Daniel Reniszewski

Lit: H. Widacka, Dietrichowie rytownicy warszawscy, Warszawa 1989.