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ANTIQUE #SA678026

Attributed To Henry Walton, 1746–1813 portrait Of A General Officer Of A Royal Regiment, Circa 1790

£4,500    $5,767    €5,436
Attributed to Henry Walton, 1746–1813
 
Portrait of a General Officer of a Royal Regiment, circa 1790
 
oil on canvas
 
75 x 62 cm. (25.1/2 x 24.1/2 in.)
 
The General Officer is wearing a standard infantry officers uniform, probably for a Royal regiment, because the uniform is in the colours of the Royal livery - scarlet, dark blue and gold. All regiments in the Regular Army numbered their buttons after 1768, either in Arabic or Roman letters. From the mid 1780s the coat collar, which originally lay flat on the shoulders, gradually started to be fashioned as a stand-up collar, as here, and that style became official in 1796, but in that year the cut-away style of coat, open over the belly to reveal the waistcoat, was abolished and the lapels were cut so as to fasten all the way down to the waist thereby hiding the waistcoat completely. It is therefore possible to date this portrait at the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1792. The Militia also wore uniforms exactly like this and there were several regiments that had dark blue facings and gold lace , for example Linconshire and Lancashire, but there were others. The Militia did not number its buttons and very little is known about what decoration appeared on them.
 
The British Army during the Napoleonic Wars experienced a time of rapid change. At the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, the army was a small, awkwardly administered force of barely 40,000 men. By the end of the period, the numbers had vastly increased. At its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. The British infantry was ''the only military force not to suffer a major reverse at the hands of Napoleonic France.''
 
In 1793, shortly before Britain became involved in the French Revolutionary Wars, the army consisted of three regiments of Household Cavalry, 27 line regiments of cavalry, seven battalions in three regiments of Foot Guards and 81 battalions in 77 numbered regiments of line infant...
Antique #SA678026, shown on this page, originates from the 18th century. For historical context, the timeline below highlights the period when it was made:
←C18th
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