The Band of the Grenadier Guards, St James's Palace
Category
Art / Prints
Date
c. 1790
Materials
Etching and engraving on paper
Measurements
374 x 523 mm
Place of origin
England
Collection
Buscot and Coleshill Estates, Oxfordshire
NT 1510222
Summary
Etching and engraving, The Band of the Grenadier Guards, St James's Palace, anonymous, British School, published c. 1790. An etched and engraved print depicting a view of the courtyard of St James's Palace, London, with the Band of the Grenadier Guards marching in full dress uniform. The bandmaster with ceremonial staff leading the procession at left, with brass and woodwind in the front rank, followed by percussion, with two diminutive bandsmen, depicted a third of the size of the front ranking section, playing a snare drum and a triangle. At centre a group of three bandsmen of African heritage, of regular size, play a cymbal, a bass or tenor drum, and a tambourine. These men wear plumed turbans instead of cocked hats or bearskins. Behind them a rank of flute and snare drum players, all of diminutive size. The procession terminates in a rank of Guards with bayonets, led by a standard-bearer and officer with sword. Label on verso inscribed 'John Hawkins, 23 Thirsk Road, Lavender Hill, SW.' See British Museum, London, inv.no. 1880,1113.2137 for an impression formerly in the collection of Frederick Crace; a hand-coloured impression sold by Daniel Crouch Rare Books. See Peter Fryer, Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain (London 1984), pp. 81-88 for an account of black musicians recruited as military bandsmen for the eighteenth-century British Army.
Marks and inscriptions
Label on verso: John Hawkins, 23 Thirsk Road, Lavender Hill, SW.