The Battle of Waterloo, 1815: The Retreat of the French
George Jones, RA (London 1786 – London 1869)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1827
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
914 x 1943 mm (36 x 76 ½ in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 485066
Caption
The artist was Keeper of the Royal Academy and became most famous for his military subjects. Versions of his paintings of Waterloo and Vittoria were commissioned by the 3rd Earl in honour of his second son, General Sir Henry Wyndham, who fought in Wellington’s victories. Their installation in the Beauty Room prompted the alteration of the entire room in the 1820s.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Battle of Waterloo, 1815: The Retreat of the French by George Jones RA (London 1786 – London 1869), 1827. Emperor Napoleon I, Emperor of France (1769–1821) at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon, at centre right, is mounted on a white horse leading a squadron of horse; to the right is a tree stump, and cavalry fill the left side of the canvas.
Provenance
Painted for the 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837) and finished in July 1827 [Letter from George Jones to Lord Egremont: '22 Duke Street, Portland Place, July 23, 1827./ My Lord, Your Lordship's picture of Waterloo will be finished and packed on Saturday next ready to be forwarded according to your direction./ Feeling deeply that I am much indebted to your Lordsp for enabling me to paint two pictures of the class most agreeable to me I must say that should the retreat of Bonaparte be less to your Lordsps taste than any other subject, I shall be most happy to put any one in hand that you suggest, and change if for the Waterloo when it is completed./ I owe this offer to your Lordsp not only individually but from a sense of your extreme kindness to the members' of my profession....']; By descent to the current Lord Egremont. On loan from the Egremont Private Collection
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection
Makers and roles
George Jones, RA (London 1786 – London 1869), artist