Olivier Bro de Comères

This selection of portraits of soldiers and arms and armour comes from an album of watercolours by Olivier Bro de Comères (1813-1870), a French soldier and artist stationed in Algiers between 1833 and 1840. Olivier Bro de Comères was raised in an artistic district of Paris known as Nouvelle Athènes, where his neighbours and mentors included Théodore Géricault and Horace Vernet. The sheets presented here are also remarkable for the often-extensive annotations in Olivier’s hand on the verso of many of the sheets, undoubtedly added to help him finish his sketches in detail. 

The studies in this section depict figures in Zouave and Spahi uniforms. The Zouaves were recruited from Algerian Berber tribes and a sizable European immigrant community. Famous for their vibrant and extravagant uniforms, Zouave regiments gained a reputation as fierce fighters, charging into battle with wild yells and drawn sabres. A typical Zouave uniform comprised a red fez or turban with a contrasting silk tassel, a short blue jacket, a broad sash, and bright red baggy trousers or pantaloons. The Spahis were light cavalry regiments recruited by the French army from the local Arab and Berber populations. Amongst them is Sidi Galfallah, a dashing figure depicted in several studies by Olivier Bro de Comères. Olivier was not the only one to be enthralled by Sidi Galfallah; he also captured the imagination of his father’s friend, Alexandre Dumas. The writer’s famous novel, The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), set during the Bourbon restoration, features a fictitious character, Maximilien Morel, captain of a Spahi regiment in Algiers, who was possibly inspired by Colonel Bro’s tales from Africa.