A Charming Christmas Looter

Evening was drawing in on the North German plains on Christmas Eve 1806. The day had been fine but with a sharp cold wind. Now the sun was setting and it was time for "home". The sheepskin lining of her pelisse, and the sheepskin shabraque covering her saddle, and of course the fine pair of leather horsewoman's gloves gave a lot of comfort to an arduous job.  But now she was hot. After a lot of hard work, using her charms to persuade local farmers to part with their goods. When female attributes failed she, and each trooper in her patrol, had a sabre and two pistols  which always tipped the odds in their favour. Then she did her share of the heavy work of lugging the "acquisitions" to the horses, and bagging and strapping them so they did not damage or fall en route. As the "Madamoiselle Feexit" for the  Company quartermaster she had to command the foraging patrol and account for the goods too. Not surprisingly she loosened the cords of her pelisse to allow some air to circulate............

Tiphaine (Tiffany) of the 3rd French Hussars
Acrylic painting on wooden panel 12" x 12" by Chris Gregg 2025

Tiphaine had been sent out on Christmas Eve by her Captain, with a small escort, to scour the North German countryside for provisions for the Company Mess at Noël.

Now she looks around contentedly and mentally tots up the looted haul carried by herself and the five other Hussarette troopers. 

About 12 brace of chickens;

11 flagons of beer ; 

10 bottles of wine; 

9 long bread loaves;

8 Ducks; 

7 Geese; 

6 Bratwurst, 

5 Stollen cakes; 

4 Lebkucken cakes; 

3 boxes of Zimtsterne cookies;

2 bottle of Schnapps;

1 cask of Gluhwein;

and as an extra for the Captain’s “partner”- a  Partridge in a pear tree! 

The Hussarette ladies will feast well this Noël……..

Tiphaine is Nr 41 in my Hussarette series and is for sale at a very affordable price. Please take a look at my  Instagram if you'd like to see others, or my conventional military paintings. My website is badly in need of updating (very soon) but if you are interested in purchase or have any enquiries please get in touch via the Contact page on my Art website.

Just a few notes on how Tiphaine came about .

I saw this nice photo of an Oslo, Norway , Policewoman on the internet on Pinterest , and wondered how I could use it for a Hussarette

As Christmas approached the idea took hold and I Photoshopped Policewoman Ingrid with various parts of uniform, body, face and shako from my own photos of models who have posed for me over the years. I then put that photo into  the Nightcafe Artificial Intelligence system together with descriptive words of what I was after. Here are some of the fanciful choices I got.

I find AI is good for giving "chocolate box" style soldiers but is rarely on the button when you want something plausibly historical. But there was lots of stimulation here- the sunsets were great  and the looted "stuff" gave me a starting point of more specific "loading up a horse with wine, beer, bread, poultry ....etc" to see what images emerged.

Due to their inaccuracy I reverted to my own Photoshopped model and combined her with the sunset and looted goods. Trying to think what French Hussar regiment would have a suitable uniform colour I think the  grey and dark red lace of the 3rd works well. Not only that it maintains my alliterative idea for Hussarettes to have the same initial letter as their regiment.

Then I set to to transfer the photo to the 12 inch square board and used the next three days at 2-3 hours a day to complete the painting.

This was then used to make a Christmas card which I hope by now many of my wargaming friends and art clients will have received.  It's placed here now to give you - my wonderful, supportive Blog Followers, my very Best Wishes for a Happy Christmas and New Year festive period  and a happy , heathy and prosperous 2026.