1 Jul 2018

Wellington and Blucher

The love of print still going strong...
The most recent acquisition is this impressive in its size steel engraving by Lumb Stocks, RA.


it follows the wall mural at the Westminster by Daniel Maclise, RA representing - what else the Brits kicking French ass (sorry....) at Waterloo. Or rather, the battle's aftermath.
It is heavily imbued with the winners vs losers iconography: Wellington in the highlight and Bluthe in the shadows, the British solders in Roman helmets with plumage, the horse making its way in the knee-high carnage. Ohhhh, the Brits with solemn yet "just" faces, the French in their shacos are sad and lost.
The prints edition from 1876.
Original frame in serious need of repair, but recoverable.
I have replaced all brutally simple acidic backing with the ph balanced board and will insert clear acrylic instead of old seriously green glass.


The description from Doe & Hope Auction site
 These line engravings were published by The Art Union in 1876 after the 1868 original wall painting by Daniel Maclise in the Royal Gallery at the Palace of Westminster. Wellington and Blucher mounted on horses, with cavalry behind them, shake hands in front of ruined building surrounded by numerous mounted and dismounted soldiers and bandsman; dead and wounded lying in the foreground. The French army is seen in pursuit along the road behind. A somewhat fanciful rendering of one of the great melodramatic moments in history.

Late in the evening on the day of the battle of Waterloo (Sunday, June 18th. 1815) Wellington and Blücher met on horseback outside the somewhat battered but aptly named La Belle Alliance inn where they briefly shook hands and congratulated each other on their victory. "Quelle affaire!" the elderly Prussian Marshal exclaimed, - Wellington said afterwards that was all the French he knew. Blücher also suggested La Belle Alliance would be a good name for the battle, but the Duke made no reply.
Following the meeting of the victorious leaders, during the rest of the night the Prussians pursued the remnants of the routed French army, from the inn, down the road toward France by which they had come.

Daniel Maclise, R.A. (1806 -1870) was an Irish historical painter whose fame rests chiefly on a series of lithograph portraits of contemporary celebrities and on two vast frescoes that he painted in the Royal Gallery in the House of Lords, of which this is a copy of one.

Scale, originality, texture, grandeur; these really must be seen - stunning.
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