"SYW Austrian Artillery" Topic

Quick question, please. Are there any references regarding black painted cannon tubes during the SYW period?

Many thanks in advance…!

Ioannis
leuthenjournal.com

You see that on period pictures. Possibly iron guns too.

Period pictures?
Certainly not 7YW period. I think black patina gun tubes would be cast iron possibly fielded from the 1809 war onwards. Sort of a missing enough bronze issue. Or missing the funds for costly bronze issue.
I know that there are images out in the net that show this awesome Kolin diorama with 30mm flats found at the Torhaus Dölitz Museum in Leipzig. They also have black barrel models. I haven't got a glimpse what made them do what they did, but, I am in contact with these guys. I could ask. Possibly.

Cheers,
Christian
crogges7ywarmies.blogspot.com

Was at the Heer Museum a week ago in Vienna and darn if I did not see some black barrels on display dated 1750's! I should have taken some pictures (they were outside and to the left of the main entrance) but never thought the question would ever come up! Maybe someone who lives closer can stop by and snap a few shots?

Black as in blackened iron, or black as in dark weathered bronze in a badly lit corner? You often see the latter in museums, including the Invalides, and people could easily be forgiven for thinking them black (cf. the recent kerfuffle about a certain dress)…

Indeed, I have seen those cannon barrels outside the Vienna museum. They were virtually black from the oxidation!

I don't think that's the excuse I need to have my own guns painted with black tubes…Black shows best against a yellow-ochre background, whereas brass will just disappear. So, I was hoping to find even the most faint evidence that blackened brass tubes were seen during SYW.

Thanks guys!

I recall the Osprey book about Austrian Napoleonic artillery has that wrong. Those black barrels are a mistake (I think that fact is explained somewhere here at TMP). They used bronze barrels except for siege pieces, just as everyone else. They were still using bronze barrels in 1866.

I've seen the Vienna barrels as well – outside the Museum entrance just a few years ago. They are all bronze – very weathered and certainly without any sort of patina. I'm in the art business dealing with cast bronze sculptures as every days business, I can tell patina from non patinated metal.

@ Ioannis
I don't see that bronze coloured barrels won't match so well with yellow carriage furnish. Mine look great. Make sure you trim your carriages to a VERY yellowish take of ochre. A many folks got this one wrong as well. The carriages were yellow, not natural wood ochre.

Cheers,
Christian
crogges7ywarmies.blogspot.com

Dear All
Most of the Smoothbore Ordnance Journal was dedicated to Austrian Artillery. The blackened gun barrels was a mistranslation by Dave Hollins in his excellent Osprey.

link

Stephen