Un Poilu Blessé

Henri Gervex's 1915 portrait sketch depicts a French soldier—a *poilu*—bearing visible wounds from the First World War. The figure wears a military coat and distinctive head wrapping, his gaze directed downward in a moment of quiet endurance. Gervex, a prominent academic painter and portraitist, employs loose watercolor and pencil technique to capture both the subject's physical injuries and psychological weight. Created during active combat, the work documents the human cost of industrialized warfare through direct observation. The sketch reflects how established fine artists engaged with contemporary conflict, transforming newspaper and periodical illustration into urgent historical record.