Franco-Prussian War: foreign ambulance staff in the Siege of Paris. Coloured transfer lithograph by Draner (J. Renard), 1871.

The wagon and the two stretcher bearers in the background appear to be contributions of the American ambulance service which operated during the siege. British, Dutch, Irish, Austrian, and Belgian Red Cross societies also sent aid. The cynical attitude of the cigar-smoking man in the foreground is described as having been found in the French population rather than among the foreign volunteers: "in Paris and in the provinces, men hoping to avoid military service were found dressed as volunteer nurses with the Red Cross armband"--among examples cited by Seltzer, op. cit.