Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe

French soldiers on bivouac near a shallow stream

It looks like a painting by impressionist Edouard Manet, but it is a real color picture, made in 1914, by Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud, Commander of the Photography and Cinematography Section of the French Army.
When the Great War broke out, in 1914, French poilu's (common soldiers) still wore uniforms with red trousers, dating from the middle half of the 19th century. They made perfect targets.
Tournassoud used an autochrome color plate. This photo technique was invented in 1907 in France by the Lumière brothers.


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