The Sun. — 1844-06-22 (London, England)

FINE ARTS. MAPS OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1815.  Captain Sibarne, the constructor of the well-known model of the battle of Waterloo which was exhibited so successfully for more than one season some few years since at the Egyptian Hall, has just co:npleted a series of maps illustrative of the campaign of 1815, which was crowned by the memorable victory of Waterloo, and the subsequent march of the triumphant British and Prussian armies on Paris. These maps are eleven in number, are coloured with great beauty and nicety, and represent With the : utmost minuteness, and with a simplicity that there can be no misunderstanding, all the various movements of the contending forces during their three days' hard fighting. Two of the maps are devoted to the delineation of the closing action at Waterloo, and those who study them with attention will have a distincter and completer idea of that murderous and obstinately contested- battle than they have yet had. The first of the two maps gives a view of the state of the field at a quarter before eight o'clock in the evening, when Napoleon, all his other chanceS having failed, had just issued orders for the final charge of the squadrons of the Imperial Guard. These brave veterans, - who are coloured in blue, to distinguish them from the British troops, who are coloured in red, are represented in the act of advancing at full speed in a compact, for midable body, up the long, undulating ridge behind which the English, with Wellington at their heal, were quietly waiting their approach. The names of the different divisions and brigades, both horse and foot, are also distinctly marked, together with the exact position they maintained at this critical moment. To the right of the spectator the Prussian auxiliary forces, coloured in green, are coming up at the extremity of the field by the road from Ligny, moving onward in heavy compact columns. In the second map, which exhibits the condition of the con- ' tending parties at five minutes past eight o'clock in the evening, we see the Imperial Guard scattered in all directions, and precipitately retreating from the ridge, with Adams's division apparently foremost in pursuit, mingled among them, and the Prussians by this time close, at hand. The representation of this last disastrous attack of the French Emperor is deeply interesting, and places the whole scene vividly before us. But indeed no spot or movement of any importance is omitted in these maps. We have the attack and defenceof Hugouernout, with the exact appearance of its garden, the farm of La Belle Alliance, the high road leading across the field from Charleroi, and even the inequalities of the ground, its level and its rising portions, discriminated by shadows of more or less depth. The same praise that we have given to the two coloured maps of Waterloo may be extended to those which represent the battles of Ligny, QuatreBras, and I'Vavre, at the most critical period of these sanguinary contests. The idea of these maps is a perfectly novel one; and the constructor's (Captain Siborne) skill in military surveying has enabled him to give a scale of measurement which is characterised by the most scrupulous accuracy. The majority of our readers are of course perfectly acquainted with the particulars of the brief, but glorious and decisive campaign in Belgium; but we will venture to say that of all the careful and circumstantial descriptions they may have read of this campaign, none will give them so distinct, vivid, and correct an idea of its character as these eleven maps. We should not omit to notice that they are engraved by Freebairn, who has acquitted himself of a difficult and complicated task with the greatest skill, spirit, and ingenuity, and dis, played first-rate abilities as an engraver.