Anno Domini 1666 - The Old World without the Warhammer

D’Artagnan, a young noble who left  his home in Gascony for Paris, full of ambition to become a Muskteer.  On arrival in Paris, he met, and quarreled with, each of the “Three Musketeers”, Athos, Aramis and Porthos, ultimately leading to him challenge each of them to a duel.  However he quickly earned their trust and friendship and became involved with all of their adventures.  Loyal to the King and the Musketeers, he eventually became a captain of the regiment.  Tragically, he met his end during a seige during the Franco-Dutch “War of Devolution”, moments after finding out he was to be made Marshall of France.  His final words were “Athos, Porthos, au revoir! Aramis, adieu forever!” – Aramis being the only one of the 4 comrades to survive.

As a character, D’Artagnan is the primary protagonist of the Dumas novels (The collective name for the stories is “The D’Artagnan Romances”).   He is based very loosely so on the historical Charles de Batz de Castelmore d’Artagnan, or the “Comte D’Artagnan”.  I can see why Dumas shortened it to “D’Artagnan”.  Much like his namesake, the real Comte D’Artagnan was also involved in espionage, serving Cardinal Mazarin (Richelieu’s successor).  In the final novel of the series, Ten Years Later (from which the film The Man in the Iron Mask is drawn), D’Artagnan arrests the finance minister, Nicolas Fouqet, for financial corruption dramatising actual historical events.  Also like his fictional counterpart, the Comte D’Artagnan was killed during the seige of Maastricht in 1673.  However as he was shot through the throat, it is unlikely he had the time to say a final farewell to his friends.

As a model I found the pose on this a little strange – I am unsure what he is doing with his off hand.  However, pose aside, it’s interesting that of the 4 main characters, only D’Artagnan is wearing a musketeer uniform.  I am not familiar with the customs of the time, so I cannot be sure whether Athos’ outfit would be considered a uniform, certainly military attire but quite generic – a simple buff coat under a cape.  However, neither Porthos nor Aramis are wearing military dress, D’Artagnan on the other hand has the same uniform as the rank and file muskteers.  To paint this, and to set him apart from the troops, I used a historical reference for Muskteer uniforms.  The original troops are based on the game art, which in turn is similar to the uniforms seen in 1993 film.  However actual uniforms were a much darker blue with a red lining and if you google it, you will also note that the regiment was active all the way through to 1816, although during the turbulent, revolutionary years they were disbanded and reformed a number of times.