Solferino 1859

[Iceman1964]

Solferino (also known as Solferino and S. Martino) was the decisive battle of the second Italian independence war, in 1859.
Three monarchs were at command of their troops (Napoleon III French Emperor allied with Vittorio Emanuele II Piedmont king, against Franz Joseph Austrian Emperor).
In Solferino (just south the Garda lake in northern Italy) the French and the Austrian army clashed totally by surprise, an incredible failure of both the recognition cavalries. The same in the nearby S. Martino between the Piedmont and the Austrian armies.
It was a very long fight, from 4.30 AM to 20 PM, and the general confusion caused bloody bayonet assaults, with consequent carnage. It was the higher amount of losses since the Napoleonic battles.
At the end the French-Piedmontes were the winners, but the heavy losses shocked the Emperor Napoleon III, leading to the end of the war (Lombardy passed to Piedmont, but Veneto remained Austrian up to 1866).
Solferino battle is also famous because the disaster of the casualties was the starting point for the idea of the Red Cross.

In this diorama a battery of French artillery is shown in re-deployment during the battle, while on the side some infantry soldiers are hit by mortar fire. The miniatures are all masterpieces from Massimo Costa. The whole work took me about 120 hours.

[Andrey]

It looks great! Great story.

[Egbert]

Very successful diorama, with beautifully designed underground.
The colors of the uniforms give a great contrast to the landscape.

[Kostis Ornerakis]

Wonderful work!

[Wolfgang Meyer]

Wonderful!

[C M Dodson]

Very nice indeed.

The painting, composition and groundwork are lovely.

Super photography.

Best wishes,

Chris

Chris

[Michael Robert]

Great dio

Small constructive criticism: the explosion doesn’t come out nicely, not enough contrast and not « explosive » enough
Love the colours and the support
Michael

[Iceman1964]

thank you all for the kind words !
About the explosion, no problem Michael for the criticism (also my wife told me the same ), it's always welcome !!

There was a discussion in the "work in progress" section, with the conclusion that at that time the explosive was not so powerful as now, and the consequent explosion was more smoke than fire and burst.
Initially I made the "smoke" more white, but then I darkened it, I didn't like it. Then I thought that exploding on soft ground it would have torn grass and earth, lifting it up around the smoke, that's why there is "dirty" and piece of ground on the smoke surface.

After all these explanations...... I'm too not satisfied of the result of the explosion

[C M Dodson]

Have a look at Boom bang crash on the Antietam WIP .

I suggest that low explosive, explosions are the equivalent of fireworks as the principle with gunpowder is exactly the same.

High explosives are a different beast.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Bluefalchion]

Modeling an explosion is no easy thing. Your example may not be perfect, but in my opinion it gets the job done. And the other aspects of the dio are well executed as stated above.

To what extent did you study the terrain in the area of the actual battlefield to inspire the colors and vegetation type you used?

[Iceman1964]

Bluefalchion, I wasn't exactly in the battlefield, but I live in the same valley (about 100 miles from there) and quite often I pass in the highway in the Garda lake, so I know about the zone.
I have reproduced the "mixed grass" we have here around (now quite rare, hurbanization is very high) and considering the battle period (end of June) I adopted a quite dark green, while for the flowers I avoided the white daisy, using yellow and red that can be easily found in such grass (but don't ask me the name of such flowers ).

[Bluefalchion]

After I saw your completed dio, I thought to myself: "I bet Iceman made significant effort to get the groundwork looking like the real thing."

Nice to know I was not wrong, on this occasion. Someone tell my wife...

[Peter]

Excellent work Enrico! The groundwork looks very natural!

[Santi Pérez]

It's a fantastic work, Iceman1964. I love the terrain, the amazing painted figures, the so well balanced scene...and the complete photo report too.

My very best congratulations.

Santi.

[Wiking]

A great work.
I like that all soldier are dirty and it is not a nice shine blue uniform.

[Iceman1964]

Thanks all !
Yes Wiking, here the battery is re-deploying, it's not the beginning of the fight, therefore I found logic to make all uniforms very dirty.

[MABO]

I like the Solferino French artillery from Massimo and your painted ones are really great stuff. And since I did not know much about this battle, I was interested in the basic background infos. Very good work!