For a man down like this, his best hope had a name: Dominique-Jean Larrey, surgeon-in-chief of the Imperial Guard. Before Larrey, the wounded lay where they fell until a battle ended, often for a day or more; he built light horse-drawn carts he called ambulances volantes — flying ambulances — to carry them off the field while the fighting still raged. He treated men in the order their wounds demanded, not their rank, an early form of triage, and his speed at amputation gave the maimed their best odds in an age before antiseptics. Napoleon thought him the most virtuous man he had ever known. Even so, the Guard's losses could be appalling, and many a casualty was past any surgeon's help.

The figure lies where he fell — sprawled forward, the bearskin knocked from his head, musket and bayonet dropped beside him in the dress of the Guard. A casualty figure is what gives a battle diorama its weight: set among fighting men, it turns a row of poses into a scene with consequences. Place him before a firing line anchored by a French Imperial Guard 1st Rank Kneeling still working their muskets, pair him with the Near Miss French Imperial Guard who was luckier by an inch, and post a French Imperial Guard Company Officer driving the line on past the cost.

W. Britain model 36186. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.