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JOHN GILBERT
The Queen inspecting wounded Coldstream Guardsmen in the Hall of Buckingham Palace, 22 February 1855
dated 1856Watercolour | 138.0 x 214.5 x 13.0 cm (frame, external) | RCIN 451958
A watercolour depicting the royal family in the Marble Hall of Buckingham Palace, receiving 26 wounded Coldstream Guards. Signed and dated at bottom right: John Gilbert 1856.
A drawing that John Gilbert made of this event, based on a verbal description, was published as a wood engraving in the Illustrated London News on 10 March 1855. Gilbert then worked up his drawing into this large watercolour, which has considerable differences. The finished work was exhibited at the Old Watercolour Society exhibition in 1856 and was regarded as a success. A chromolithograph of the watercolour was published in 1903 by Vincent Brooks, altering some elements of the original scene by giving increased prominence to the Guardsmen (who numbered only 26 when the Queen met them).
A pen and ink drawing, inscribed by the artist 'First sketch for Picture The Queen inspecting the wounded Coldstream Guards', is held by the Royal Academy (inv.no. 05/2954), part of a large collection of his work that Gilbert presented to the institution in 1889.
The watercolour is discussed by Delia Millar, The Victorian Watercolours and Drawings in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, Volume 1, Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., London (1995), pp.354-5.
A drawing that John Gilbert made of this event, based on a verbal description, was published as a wood engraving in the Illustrated London News on 10 March 1855. Gilbert then worked up his drawing into this large watercolour, which has considerable differences. The finished work was exhibited at the Old Watercolour Society exhibition in 1856 and was regarded as a success. A chromolithograph of the watercolour was published in 1903 by Vincent Brooks, altering some elements of the original scene by giving increased prominence to the Guardsmen (who numbered only 26 when the Queen met them).
A pen and ink drawing, inscribed by the artist 'First sketch for Picture The Queen inspecting the wounded Coldstream Guards', is held by the Royal Academy (inv.no. 05/2954), part of a large collection of his work that Gilbert presented to the institution in 1889.
The watercolour is discussed by Delia Millar, The Victorian Watercolours and Drawings in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, Volume 1, Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., London (1995), pp.354-5.
